Separated
by junodog
Summary: A story of what happens when Edward and Alphonse finally regain their bodies... only to be separated by a strange organization! gasp. mangabased.
1. Chapter 1

It was impossible to tell what had happened. The only thing either of them knew was that there were the Elric brothers, or at least one of them. Roy barely recognized the starved body on the ground from a picture he had seen in their house, about five years earlier. Riza walked over to Alphonse and placed her coat around his shoulders. He was barely conscious.

"Brother… where's brother?"

Neither one of them wanted to say what had happened to Edward, so Roy decided to lie.

"He's outside waiting for you."

"Oh, good…" Al trailed off as he lost consciousness. Riza brought him to the car outside as Roy looked at the bloody mess at the other side of the room. "What did you do, Fullmetal? This isn't how I expected to find you."

There was no way to be sure that the torn-up body was that of Edward, but from what they'd heard, there wasn't much of a chance that it wasn't. He walked out of the room and closed the door, his emotions a mix of great sadness and rage.

"You should have asked for help."

---------------

Ed woke up in the back of a car, staring at the roof. He could hear voices, but they were low, and stopped after a moment. It was then that he realized his head was resting on someone's lap. This woman looked down at him and stroked his hair.

"Shh, it's okay. You're going to be just fine."

He tried to understand what she meant. It was only then that he realized his leg hurt. It hurt horribly, and he tried to pick up his head to look at it. The woman gently pushed him back down. "It's better if you didn't see."

Ed looked back up at her. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're in a car heading towards the nearest hospital. As for what happened, I was hoping you could explain that to me."

"Well… I remember… we – my brother and I – were trying to get our bodies back, but then there was a crash, and someone came in… I think it interrupted us… Maybe that's why my leg hurts so much, I didn't get it all back…"

"That could be, there's a lot missing, but the bones are all there, and most of the muscle, so I think you'll be fine."

"What about my arm?"

"Your right arm? It's automail."

"Then… I didn't get it back?"

"No, I guess you didn't. Shh. Go to sleep. Everything'll be fine."

----------------

Al woke up in a soft bed. He looked at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was wrong with the current situation. Sure, he was hungry, but that was part of life. It's not like hunger was that big of a…

Wait. Hunger. That was it. Armor didn't get hungry. Al sat up in a flash, looking down at himself. Sure enough, there he was. His body. It didn't look like much under the clothes he was wearing, but it was still there.

Al smiled as grateful tears slid down his face. They had succeeded. Al looked around for his brother, but the room was empty. It wasn't much of a room, either. It looked like someone, definitely a guy, had just shoved all his dirty clothes into a corner. Al could see a military uniform in the pile.

He looked more closely at the clothes he was wearing, since he didn't have the energy to stand up. They were definitely too big for him, and reeked of laundry detergent, but Al didn't care. He was in his own body again.

He looked up as the door squeaked open and Roy entered. He smiled at Al as he walked up to him. "You did it."

"Yeah, it's…" Al didn't really know what to say. He was overwhelmed with joy. But, where was his brother?

"You're probably hungry, right? Come on, I have breakfast."

Al stood up, tentatively testing his legs before walking to the door. Why did it seem like Roy was hiding something?

"Where's brother?" he asked while they ate. Real food. Al had forgotten how good waffles were.

"I'll tell you later. Right now you need to worry about yourself. You're definitely going to need a while to recover. And some new clothes."

"But why can't I see him?"

"Look, there's a warrant out for your arrests. If the homunculi see you out in the open, they'll bring you in."

"But they won't recognize me now, will they?"

"I don't know how, but they've heard that you got your body back. They'll probably have a good idea of what you look like now."

Al hung his head. Roy was right.

"So, how are you feeling? I mean, you don't look like you're in the best shape right now."

"Really tired."

"Then get some rest. I have to go to work soon, but I'll be back this evening."

--------------------

Ed was in a daze. His leg hurt incredibly, and he couldn't move. Something was holding him down. He could see people in white down by his feet. They were doing something to his leg, but Ed couldn't see what.

After a while, the woman from before came back. She looked different this time, more official, but she was still smiling gently as she placed a gloved hand on his forehead.

"You're going to have a fever for a while because of this. Don't worry, though, they say your leg will heal up nicely. The recovery process will be long and painful, and it won't look so nice, but then you'll have your leg back in good shape."

"Who… who…?"

"Who am I? I'm a friend. You can call me Tessa. What's your name?"

"E… Edward. Edward Elric."

"I've heard that name before. Are you the state alchemist?"

"Y-yeah, I am."

"It's an honor to meet you, Fullmetal Alchemist. Hold still for a moment."

Ed tried to see what she was doing, but before he could pick up his head, he felt a needle go into his arm. He began to fade. Ed looked back at Tessa as she pulled the needle out of his arm.

"It's just something to help you sleep. When you wake up, it won't be as painful. I promise."

Something about the way she said that worried Ed, but he couldn't figure out what. By the time he realized what it was, it was too late. He was asleep.

-------------------

Al spent several days doing nothing but eating and sleeping. He still wanted desperately to see his brother, but Roy wasn't letting him go outside at all. Another week passed by, and Al could finally look at himself in a mirror without being horribly shocked. He was slowly gaining weight.

One day, Riza came to visit. She came with Black Hayate, who immediately jumped onto the bed and started licking Al on the face. Once the dog had calmed down and jumped back down, Al looked up at Riza's face. She seemed sad.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Listen, before I start, I want to apologize for hiding the truth from you. We just didn't want to make your recovery any harder."

"Eh?"

"Look, when we found you, we also found something else, something terrible, and, well, there's a good chance that your brother didn't make it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Edward…"

She didn't have to finish. Al understood what she meant. "But… earlier, you said…"

"I know. I'm sorry we lied to you."

"But… it should have… how did this happen?"

"Nobody knows, really."

Al didn't know what to do. This was too much for him to handle. He should have realized it earlier. Of course they would hide something like this from him. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Wait, you said there's a good chance he didn't make it?"

"Yes."

"So, you're not sure if he's really…"

"No, there is a chance he is alive, but not a very good one."

"But still, if there's a chance…"

"Are you going to look for him?"

"I have to try, at least."

Riza smiled. "I see. I'd help you, but I still have to work. Just be sure you don't strain yourself. And be careful. People are still looking for you."

"I will be. Thank you."

---------------------

Deep in the heart of East City, there was a three-story building that was in desperate need of some new windowpanes. There were people living in the building, but nobody minded the boarded-up holes in the walls. It was light enough inside, and very nice. The only person who wanted to look through a window was the boy who was trapped in a room on the top floor.

Ed continuously asked why he had to be in that room, but nobody answered him. The only time any of his questions were answered was when he asked about his leg. It was healing, but Ed still couldn't walk on it. But even if he could, he still wouldn't be able to leave the room. For some reason, they kept it locked at all times.

He looked at the pile of stuff they had given him for amusement. On top, the only thing he had looked at, was a newspaper article about him and his brother. They had even added a picture of the two. Of course, Al was still in the armor in that picture, but Ed was fine with that. If Al had regained his body, which Ed was pretty sure he had, there wasn't any danger for him.

_Elric Brothers Suspected of Murder, Robbery_

_Last night, a robbery occurred in downtown Central. Two people, greatly resembling the famous Elric brothers, broke into a house and stole several objects of great importance to the owner. The housekeeper confronted the two, and was consequently attacked, most likely via alchemy. The owner of the house came down to see what had happened, and found the housekeeper on the ground, barely alive. Before calling the police, the owner listened to the housekeeper's story._

_The whereabouts of the Elric brothers are currently unknown. Edward Elric is fifteen, with an automail right arm and left leg, and reacts negatively to jokes about his height. Alphonse Elric is fourteen, and is always wearing a suit of medieval armor. If you have any knowledge of these two, please inform the military immediately._

Ed was wondering why he hadn't been turned in. It didn't make any sense. Why were these people protecting him? And besides, who had actually done the break-in? Ed knew for a fact that it hadn't been him or his brother; the date of the break-in was the same night that Ed and Al had been regaining their bodies.

He picked up the article again and reread it. Then, the door opened and Tessa came in. She closed the door behind her and sat next to Ed.

"How's the leg today?" she asked.

"Fine."

"Good. Soon you'll be able to use it again. Maybe we'll go for a nice walk through the woods."

"Woods? Aren't we in a city?"

"We're going to have to move again. I'm sorry about all this moving around, but it's for the best."

"Hey, can I ever go back to Central? I really want to find my brother."

"Be patient. You can't go back just yet."

"Why not?"

"Because… you have to stay with us."

"Why do I have to stay with you?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later, okay?"

Ed was about to respond when the door opened again. This time, a doctor came in. Ed recognized him. He still didn't know his name, but he was always friendly with Ed. He closed the door and walked up to Ed.

"It's that special time of day again!" he said in a joking tone. He seemed to understand how much Ed hated this process, and always tried to make it easier for him.

Ed groaned as the doctor sat down on a stool next to the bed and put on some gloves. "Come on, do you really need to do this?"

"Do you want this to get infected?" the doctor replied, pointing to a red spot on the bandage. "Hey, at least it's healing nicely. You should be grateful for that." The doctor began gently pulling off the bandages, trying to keep Ed in a good mood with jokes and pointless stories. Ed wasn't very amused.

Once he was done, the doctor produced a small bottle. "Need painkillers today?"

Ed shook his head. He was in pain, but he'd rather deal with pain than take strange drugs. That first time when Tessa had put him to sleep, he'd woken up two days later in a state of panic, thinking something bad was going to happen. Sure, his leg hadn't hurt as much then, but he still didn't like them messing with his mind.

The doctor left the room, closing the door behind him. Tessa stayed with Ed, and after a while, she stood up and stretched. "So, want to do something fun?"

"Like what?"

"Maybe a card game?"

"No thanks."

She stood next to the bed for a moment. "Do you really want to know why we're keeping you here?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Be careful what you wish for."

Before Ed could question this, she gently picked up Ed's left leg and put it on the stool. Then she sat down next to him and put her hand on his head. Ed was about to take it off when she began her explanation.


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing new here, just breaking it up into chapters so it's easier to read.

-----------------

Al walked down the streets of Central wearing a hooded sweatshirt and some jeans the Colonel had gotten him. His hair had been cut and dyed, too, so he could pass off as a normal teenager now, albeit a skinny one. He didn't care about how he looked, though. It had been a couple of days since he'd started his search, and there was still no sign of his brother.

The police were looking too. Al had listened in on their conversations on two occasions, and from what he had heard, they weren't any closer to finding Ed than he was, even though they'd had two more weeks than Al to search.

He began to worry. What if Ed really had been killed? How would he live without his brother? He shook his head. No. That wasn't possible. Ed had to be alive. He just had to. Al tried to come up with other possibilities. Maybe his brother wasn't in Central. Maybe he'd left for some reason.

But where would he go? Resembool was always a possibility, but there were probably people waiting for them there. How would Al get there without being caught? He decided to ask the Colonel. He'd probably know a way.

-------------------

"You said you heard someone coming when you were doing that transmutation, right?"

"Yeah, there was a crash, and someone was shouting, and then…"

"And then you were pulled out of the room, right?"

"Huh? How'd you know that?"

"I'm the one who brought you out. It's a good thing, too, otherwise they would have killed you."

"Who are you talking about?"

"The ones who broke into that house."

"But why would they have killed me?"

"I don't know. They were very desperate. That's why we're keeping you here, to protect you from them."

"But wouldn't it be better if I went back to the military instead? I mean, it's not like-" Ed didn't get a chance to finish that. Tessa had brought her hand sharply into the back of his neck, and he fell back into her outstretched arm, unconscious.

"Sorry about that, but we can't have you knowing where you're headed next," she said as she picked him up and walked out of the room.

--------------------

Roy agreed to get Al to Resembool, but he insisted that he went by a more roundabout route. Thus, Al ended up on a train to East City. He got out and walked around. It had definitely been a while since he'd been here.

Al wandered through East City for a while, trying to pass the time before he had to board the train to Resembool. Just for fun, he decided to go by the military headquarters. Maybe he'd get a clue there, too.

Across the street from the entrance was a building with wood over the windows. Al looked at the building curiously. People were walking in and out of it as if they lived there. Then, one of the people who came out noticed Al staring at it and came over to him.

"Pretty funny, isn't it? The only reason the windows don't have glass is because we haven't had a chance to get them fixed. It's a perfectly nice building on the inside."

"How did they break in the first place?"

"Oh, kids throwing rocks, random explosions from the military headquarters, you know."

Al nodded. He had a pretty good feeling about why there had been explosions. Ed and Roy hadn't exactly been peaceful during their time together. It seemed like everyone here was used to Roy's antics. They probably enjoyed the peace that came from his departure.

The woman seemed to know what Al was thinking. "It's been a lot quieter since that Colonel left. Makes life here kind of boring."

"Did you ever meet him?" Al asked.

"No, but I did see him from a distance a lot. Man, when the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother came to town, the level of excitement always went way up."

Al involuntarily twitched at this mention of his brother. "So, have you heard about that alchemist lately? I heard he and his brother disappeared after a robbery or something."

"How did you hear about that? Do you have relatives in Central?"

"Actually, I just got back from there, and I'm heading out to visit some relatives in the country this evening."

"Where do your relatives live?"

"Oh, in a small village nearby. I don't think you've heard of it."

"Try me."

"Resembool."

"Hey, I've heard of Resembool, isn't that where the Elric brothers are from?"

"Huh? Yeah, it is. How'd you know that?"

"The friend of a distant relative of mine lives there. So, do you know the Elric brothers?"

"Not too well. Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, it's getting close to six. Why?"

"I have to go back to the train station. It was nice meeting you," Al said as he walked away. Once he was out of her sight, Al began to run. Something about the woman bothered him, even though she seemed friendly enough.

-------------------

When Ed woke up, he was in a small, dark room. The room was nice enough, but something bothered him. Why had Tessa knocked him out? Where was he? Why was it so dark?

While he tried to come up with answers, the door opened, and Tessa came in. "Hey, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Where am I?" Ed asked, getting straight to the point.

"We're at a friend's house. Tomorrow we're going to head out into the countryside. I know someone out there."

"Why do we have to keep moving around?"

"Because, those people are smart. They'll find you if you stay in one place too long."

"But why don't you ever tell me? This is the third time I've woken up in a strange place, not counting the hospital."

"It's easier to get you around if you're asleep. That way you don't have to worry about anything."

"Except for the fact that you people are moving me around without my consent."

Tessa sighed. She seemed to realize Ed wasn't convinced. "Look, you'll understand later, okay?"

"Fine." Ed watched as she sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the room and pulled out a book. "What, do you not trust me on my own?"

"I do, but my boss doesn't."

"Your boss?"

"The one who's in charge of this whole deal."

Ed lay down and turned on his side, facing the wall. After a while, he got bored and took a book out of the pile by his bed. As he read, he tried to work things out in his head. No matter how nicely these people treated him, Ed knew he was a prisoner. The only reason they hadn't locked him in a cell was because they knew he wouldn't be able to walk.

He had to get away before they started tightening security. Even if it meant putting weight on his leg and undoing all the healing from the past few weeks. Ed tried to think of a good way to escape, but he wouldn't be able to do much with Tessa in the room. He'd have to get her to leave, but how?

After a while, Ed came up with a plan. It wasn't the greatest, but it was better than nothing. He could hear noises from the other side, so he had a feeling that the wall was an outer wall. If he could get on the other side of it…

He rolled over onto his back. He knew what he had to do. Now to get rid of Tessa. Ed began to sit up. Halfway there, he let out a cry of pain. He put on the "OMG this hurts like hell I need painkillers" act, and Tessa fell for it. She dropped her book and left the room, leaving Ed alone. Ed clapped his hands and placed them on the wall. He created a door in the wall and went through. On the other side was an alley. Ed re-transmuted the wall behind him and limped down the alley to a bigger road. There were plenty of people, so Ed blended in with the crowd easily. He moved down the road to the train station.

----------------------

Al sat impatiently in the train, looking through the window at the Resembool station. It seemed to take forever to reach. Finally, Al got off and looked around. There were a lot of military policemen observing the people getting on and off the train. One of them stopped Al, but all he did was ask if he'd seen either of the Elric brothers in the area. Al didn't even have to lie, because he hadn't seen his brother, and there weren't any mirrors in the area.

He walked down the road toward the Rockbell home. Winry was there, taking a vacation from work to visit Pinako. He hoped that they would recognize him.

He didn't get a chance to see them. There were military policemen all around the house. Al would have to wait for one of them to leave the house. He decided to hide and watch the front door.

After a while, Winry walked out. She spoke briefly to one of the policemen and walked down the road with some flowers. Once Al was sure none of the police would see him, Al snuck out of his hiding place and began to follow Winry, trying to get a chance to talk to her.

He followed her all the way to the cemetery. She stopped at her parents' graves, not noticing Al until he was almost right next to her.

"Winry?" he asked, trying not to startle her too much.

Winry stood up and looked at Al. "Um, sorry, do I know you?"

"Winry, it's me. It's Alphonse."

Winry looked at Al for a long time. Then she finally recognized her childhood friend. "You did it?"

"Yeah." They stood there for a while, Al waiting for Winry to react. Then, with a cry of joy, Winry enveloped the still-skinny Al in a hug. Al stood there for a while, grateful that he could be hugged again.

After a while, she let go. "Where's Ed?"

Al hung his head. "I don't know. I'm looking for him."

"Did he run away?"

Al shook his head. "Nobody knows what happened to him. There's a good chance that he's… well, gone."

Winry stared at Al for a while. "Gone? Like, he lost his body?"

"Well, no, not exactly, but Colonel Mustang said that when he found me, there was also something else in the room, something horrible…"

"Oh, my god. You mean Ed was killed?"

"Maybe. There's no way to tell if that was him. That's why I'm looking for him, because I don't think he could have just died like that."

"Is that why you came here?"

"Yeah, but I guess he isn't here, is he?"

"No, but if he is alive, he'll probably stop by here, so you might as well stay."

"But the military's looking for us."

"Well, nobody's going to recognize you now. Come by the house tomorrow. I'll tell the police that you're a distant relative visiting from the south."

"Okay."

Winry looked at Al again. "You're so skinny."

"I know. I'm in better shape than I was a few weeks ago, though."

"We'll have to make sure you eat a lot when you come to stay with us. I'll bake some pie, too."

-----------------

Ed made it to the train station only to realize he didn't have any money. That and the military was looking for him. Even though he knew he'd be safer with the military than out on his own, Ed wasn't in the mood to have them arrest him until he found his brother.

Ed turned around and headed toward the slums. Probably not the best place to hide, but it was the only place Ed could think of at the moment. At least nobody would question his presence.

That's what he thought, but someone did question his arrival. Once Ed walked past a certain alley, he noticed someone following him. He tried to lose the person, but whoever it was wanted to catch him, and plus it's hard to go fast when just walking takes a lot of effort.

He caught up with Ed in an alley. Ed cursed as he realized he was cornered. He turned to face his follower. It was Scar.

Scar made sure Ed had no chance of escaping before approaching. Ed wanted to run, but his body wasn't responding. When he did get it to work again, Ed stepped on his left foot the wrong way, sending pain coursing through his leg. He lost his footing and fell back.

Scar, sensing that Ed was helpless, stood in front of the alchemist for a moment. "Why are you here?" he asked. "Running away from what you did in Central?"

"That wasn't me!" Ed responded. He tried to get up, but his leg still hurt.

"Then why are you hiding?"

"I don't have a reason to stay in the military anymore."

"So you're deserting?"

"I'm trying to find my brother. But yeah, the minute I can, I'm getting out of there."

There was a tense silence. Finally, Scar held out his hand. Ed didn't take it. He was suspicious.

"I don't have a reason to kill you if you're leaving the military. Besides, why would I wait? Right now you're the easiest target I've seen."

Ed glared as he held out his hand. Scar pulled him to his feet and led him to where he was currently living.

-----------------

Al walked slowly toward the Rockbell home. He wasn't sure what Winry had told them, so he was nervous. One of the MPs noticed him and walked up to him.

"You must be Al. Winry said you'd be coming."

"Uh, yeah, hi… Why are you here, out of curiosity?"

"We're keeping an eye out for the Elric brothers. There's a chance they might come here, and also that they've lost it."

"Lost it? What do you mean by that?"

"Have you heard about that murder in Central? Apparently the guys who did it look like the Elric brothers. We don't know for sure, but if that's true, then there could be something wrong with their minds. We're here to make sure that they don't do anything to the Rockbells or anyone else around here."

"Oh, I get it. I hope someone finds them soon."

"Me too. I'd hate to see those boys get into too much trouble."

Al waved at the MP as he went to the front door. He was about to knock when Winry yanked the door open and pulled him inside.

"What did he say to you?"

"Just about how the Elric brothers are suspects in a murder and how they might have gone insane."

"Oh. Nothing big?"

"No, that's it."

Winry breathed a sigh of relief and led Al into the kitchen. Pinako was sitting at the table, and she smiled at Al as he and Winry sat down.

"Good to see you again."

Al nodded. "It's nice to be back. I just wish brother were here."

"We all do. But don't worry, he'll show up eventually."

"I hope so."


	3. Chapter 3

Ed sat in an alley with his back against a wall. Scar had brought him there and left seconds later, saying something about companions. Ed was thinking he meant the bean girl from earlier, so he was surprised when he saw two other people show up as well. He recognized both of them, although they surprised to see him there.

Nobody really said anything that night. Ed was trying to come up with a plan, Marcoh was doing something random, and Yoki was constantly shooting death glares at Ed. Scar had disappeared, and Mei Chan was ignoring Ed due to the fact that he had apparently broken her heart.

After a while, Yoki went to sleep, and Mei Chan wandered off to do something. Ed wanted to check on his leg, but something stopped him. For some reason, he didn't want to reveal that he had gotten part of his body back.

"I'm guessing you found the notes?" Marcoh asked.

"Yeah…"

"Where's your brother?"

"I don't know. I'm trying to find him."

"Shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, with the armor and all…"

"Well…"

"Did something happen?"

"We managed to find a way, but I only got my leg back. I don't know what happened with Al."

"Your leg?"

"Yeah, but something weird happened, so it's kinda messed up now…"

"Let me see."

Ed pulled up his pant leg carefully. He waited patiently for the doctor to look at it.

"How long ago was this?"

"A few weeks."

"Well, it's taking a long time to heal, but it'll be fine. How were you separated from your brother?"

"I'm still not really sure about that."

"Well, I hope you find him."

"Thank you."

--------------------

Al sat at the kitchen table with Winry. She had kept her promise about baking apple pie, and Al found himself gaining more weight and finally feeling normal again. He had missed his body.

After a moment, Winry stood up and stretched. "So, what do you want to do today? I mean, it's not like we can do much, but…"

"I want to visit mom's grave."

Winry stopped stretching and put her arms down. "You can't go alone, you know that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, I'll act like I'm taking you to see my parents' graves."

"Okay."

They walked down to the cemetery together. Al saw a lot of people on the way that he recognized, but he couldn't say anything to them without risking his secret identity. It was frustrating.

They stayed at the cemetery for an hour. Al was lost in thought when Winry pushed him back toward the road.

"Come on, if we stay too much longer they'll get suspicious."

"You don't have to push, though!"

Winry suddenly let go, and Al fell to the ground. "Hey, I'll race you back!" she said as she began running.

"Hey, no fair! You got a head start!" Al shouted as he got up and ran after her. He got unexpectedly tired halfway there, and had to slow down to a walk. Winry was really far ahead. Al walked on his own down the road, avoiding the eyes of people he knew. He wished he could just say who he was.

Soon someone in a military uniform stopped him. Al recognized the person as one of Envy's more popular disguises, but he tried to act like he didn't know him. That didn't work. Al was about to continue down the road when someone came up behind him and grabbed his arms.

"And all this time we thought you'd be running around with your brother. It was nice of you to come straight here. Say, where is that pipsqueak anyway?" Envy asked once they were off the main road.

"I don't know."

"Really? Did he give himself up so that you could have a body again?"

"I don't know. He's just gone."

"What do you mean, just gone?"

"I mean, either he's a pile of rotting flesh or he's lost somewhere. It's not really that complicated!"

"Whoa there, you don't have to get so touchy about it. Have you tried looking for him?"

"What do you think I've been doing all this time?" Al was starting to get pissed.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Look, you're not going to find him by staying here."

"Then where should I go?"

"I've heard rumors about him showing up in East City, why don't you try there?"

"What'll happen when I find him?"

"Then the two of you can live happily ever after in a nice little house in the country. Or not. Worry about that after you find him."

Al glared at Envy, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he quietly walked with Envy back to Winry's house.

-----------------

Ed was fast asleep when they came. He didn't wake up until they were all around him, pointing their guns at him. Ed sat up and looked around. They had military uniforms.

He checked to see what had happened to the others. They had all gone. Ed was alone. One of the soldiers pulled Ed to his feet and pushed him to walk. Ed limped down the alley with several guns still pointed at him. Once they were on a road, they had him get into a car. Ed sat there for a while, not quite understanding what was going on.

Finally, one of the soldiers spoke to him. "You're the Fullmetal Alchemist, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why? We've been looking for you for several weeks! Where were you?"

"I was being held against my will somewhere."

"Where?"

"I don't know, some building in the city. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters, we need to find the people who had you! But for now, there's the issue of that murder. You're going to Central the day after tomorrow, although since it's after midnight, I can just say tomorrow."

"I didn't do it, though."

"Well, you can tell that to the higher-ups in Central. Until then, you're to stay in military custody. We'll have someone look at your leg, too."

That's when Ed realized. How was he going to explain the reappearance of his leg? After a moment, Ed decided not to worry. If they were going to kick him out of the military, that wouldn't bother him. Maybe he'd be able to find his brother again and they could go back to Resembool.

-------------------

Al waited patiently at the train station for the train to arrive. When it came, he was surprised to find Envy blocking his way.

"You're not going on this one."

"Why not?"

"Because you're going to Central."

"Why?"

"Because that's where you and your brother are wanted. There's an issue that needs to be resolved. You'll meet him there."

"Wait, you mean someone found him?"

"He was sleeping in some alley in East City. Now come on, we're going to have to wait a while for the right train to come."

-----------------

Ed sat quietly in the car as they drove to the train station. His leg had been bandaged and Ed was supposed to use crutches for a few days. Of course, Ed wasn't expecting to have to walk much for a while, so that was just fine with him.

They stopped the car and walked through the station to the train. Ed made his way to the train surrounded by a buttload of well-armed soldiers. They sat him down in a private room in the front with one other person. He was a State Alchemist. He had long black hair that he kept in a ponytail, and he had transmutation circles tattooed on the palms of his hands.

After a while, he introduced himself as Zolf J. Kimblee. He held his hand out, but Ed didn't take it. He kept his arms crossed and looked through the window. Kimblee didn't react to this. Instead, he concentrated on something else. After a while, the train began to move.

He stared out the window, wanting desperately for this trip to be over. He remembered Riza telling him about this freak, and now here he was, stuck in a train compartment with the Crimson Alchemist. Why was he here, though? Hadn't he been sent to prison?

After an hour or so, Kimblee spoke again. "Why'd you run away?"

"I didn't."

"Oh, right, you were being held captive. So, why didn't you try to get out earlier?"

"I couldn't use my leg."

"Why is it like that in the first place?"

"By accident."

"Oh, so you're stupid enough to hurt yourself that badly?"

Ed tried to come up with a good comeback, but he didn't think of anything, so he just glared. Kimblee smiled and stood up. "Come on now, it was just a joke." He held his hand out to Ed. Something told Ed he should take it, so he did. Kimblee held onto Ed's right arm for a moment.

"Oh, automail, huh? I guess we know where your name comes from now."

"How long until we get there?" Ed asked, completely ignoring the automail comment.

"Several hours at least. Why don't you relax? It's not like anyone's going to kill you."

Ed didn't like how Kimblee said this, but he had a point. Ed was overreacting. He still had a high status in the military, and he _was_ a precious human sacrifice, so why would they just kill him off? Besides, he hadn't slept well the night before. He was getting pretty tired.

-------------------

Al was sent to stay in a small room that was guarded by a few soldiers. He wondered how long it would take for Ed to arrive. Apparently they weren't going to be questioned until the two were together. Al was relieved. He didn't want to have to do this alone.

That evening, Riza stopped by to drop off some papers. She gave them to Al to fill out, even though Al had no clue how to do it. Riza sighed and began to show Al how to fill it out.

"So Edward's alive?"

"Yeah, he's supposed to get here tomorrow."

"That's good. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

Al nodded. The truth was, he was nervous about seeing his brother. The thought had occurred to him that Ed might have given something up so that Al could have his body. Plus, what if something _had_ gone wrong? There were a lot of things to worry about.

Riza noticed the preoccupied look on Al's face. "Don't worry. At least now you know for sure that he's alive and well. And you have your body, too. Things could have turned out a lot worse."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, I have to go now, but do you know how to do this now?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Al sat staring at the papers for a while before he gave up. He could always have Ed do them when he got here…

-------------------

Ed woke up just before the train arrived in Central. For the moment, he had been left alone in the compartment. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was getting late, but they were finally coming into the city. Ed was glad. He hadn't liked being stuck with Kimblee.

He sat in the compartment until someone came to get him. He was led through the station to a car, where he sat for a good ten minutes before someone got in next to him. It was Envy. Ed ignored him as Envy started the car and began to drive.

"So you're not dead."

Ed kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to talk to Envy.

"Hey, you know, you're being let off. Nobody's going to say you're a murderer anymore."

Ed was still quiet. He was glad they didn't have to deal with the whole murder-suspect thing, but he wasn't exactly going to admit that he was grateful.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you don't have a reason to travel around anymore, do you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Jeez, you're not too bright, are you, pipsqueak?"

"EXCUSE ME?"

"Not so loud, I'm trying to drive. Anyway, you accomplished what you wanted to accomplish, even if you messed it up for yourself."

"Yeah, but I have no idea if it worked for Al."

"We're here. Get out."

Ed followed Envy through a military building until they came to a small room with a couple of guards. Envy opened the door and brought Ed inside.

"This is where you're going to stay until we tell you otherwise. You even have a roommate. Enjoy."

Envy left the room before Ed could say anything. Ed sat down on the vacant bed and pulled his one shoe off. His roommate was already asleep. Ed thought he looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. He decided to go to sleep. He could always find out in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Al woke up early the next morning and looked around the room. Someone was sleeping in the other bed. Al was immediately curious, so he walked over to look at who it was. It was his brother.

Al didn't know whether he should wake Ed up or let him sleep. He was still debating when Ed opened his eyes. When Ed saw Al standing over him, he sat up in a hurry.

"Gah! You scared me!"

"Sorry, brother. I didn't think you'd wake up so soon."

When Ed heard Al say brother, he stared at Al for a good five minutes. "Al?"

"Yeah, it's me, don't you recognize me?"

"Not with that hair. Why's it black?"

"Colonel Mustang dyed it before I started looking for you. He also helped me when I got my body back."

"Really? I guess I'll have to thank him. But, you're back."

"Yeah. But, brother, your arm…"

Ed looked down at the automail. "I didn't get it back. Someone came in and prevented me from getting everything back. My leg was missing most of the skin, too."

"But you got it back?"

"Yeah, I got my leg back, and once it's healed, it'll be good as new."

"At least that's something." Al sat down next to his brother. "I was afraid you had died."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to let you know I was okay, but they wouldn't let me."

"Who, the military?"

"No, the people who took me away that night. They said it was to protect me from the ones who broke into that house, but I don't really believe that. Speaking of which, Envy said we're being let off the hook for that."

"That's good, because we weren't the ones who did it."

Ed fell back on the bed. "Well, we did it. It didn't work out as well as I wanted it to, but we got close."

"Yeah, and at least nobody can steal your leg anymore."

"Al, you're tiny."

"I know, but I'm still taller than you."

"Say what?"

"Come on, stand up."

"No way!"

"Oh, is poor widdle Ed afwaid that his liddle bro's taller than him?"

"Hey, I'm injured! I can't stand on this foot!"

"Then use your other foot."

Ed glared at his brother. "Fine," he muttered as he stood and looked up at his brother. Once he saw that he was still short, Ed sat down. "It's just an inch. Besides, I'm not wearing shoes."

"Neither am I."

"You're wearing slippers!"

"But they don't add three inches to my height."

Ed crossed his arms. "Jeez, and here I thought it would be a good thing to have your body back."

"Come on, brother. Don't be like that."

Ed smiled. "Yeah, I'm glad I can see your face again. I missed it."

"Winry said the same thing."

"When did you see Winry?"

"I went to Resembool to see if you were there. That's where Envy found me."

"He didn't say anything bad to you, did he?"

"No, nothing too bad. He just wanted to know why I was alone."

Ed hung his head. "I'm sorry I left you alone. I really am."

"It's okay, brother. You couldn't help it. Besides, we're together now."

"That's right. We're together. And for the most part, we're back to normal."

-------------------

In a deserted hallway in a rarely used military building, Envy leaned against the wall talking to Kimblee.

"So, how's your search going?"

"I ran into Scar once, but he got away. As for Marcoh, still no trace of him. I didn't find him with Scar, just some random weirdo."

"What about that pipsqueak? Did you get a chance to ask him?"

"Why would that kid have seen him?"

"When they found him, there was also evidence that there were other people in the area. Most of the evidence points to Scar."

"Maybe I should ask him then."

"You'll have to get him alone. There's no way his brother's going to let you talk to him."

"That kid, is he one of the sacrifices?"

"He is, and so is his brother. We're watching a friend of theirs to keep them in line."

"How should I get him alone, then?"

"Just leave that to me."

-----------------

"Hey, brother?" Al mumbled as he lay on his bed.

"Hmm?" Ed replied from the other side of the room.

"What are we going to do now?"

Ed rolled over on his side to face his brother. "Well, I want to get out of this."

"This room, or the military in general?"

"The military."

"But you can't, otherwise they'll hurt Winry."

"I know." Ed sat up and checked his leg. His foot had completely healed, so he could at least walk on it now. "But I told Scar that I was going to leave the military."

"You saw Scar?"

"Yeah, and the only reason he didn't kill me was because I said I was trying to get out. He could have killed me easily, too. I couldn't exactly run away."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I didn't really see a need to."

"Brother, will you tell me what happened that night? I remember getting our bodies back, but then when I came back from the doors, Roy and Riza were there, and they said you were outside, and then I was asleep. I remember seeing some blood, too, now that I think about it."

Ed lay on his side again, facing his brother. "I don't really know what happened, but here's what I remember. While my leg was being reattached, someone came into the room. I think they interrupted it for me, because I only got half of my leg back. Anyhow, they came in, and I saw two people looking at me, but then they were… I don't really know what happened, but the next thing I knew, there was a bloody mess right next to me, and someone was standing right in front of me. I think."

"And that's all you know?"

"Yeah. Next thing I knew, I was in a car with some lady who told me she was taking me to a hospital."

"What about after that? How did you end up being captured?"

"It was that lady. At the hospital, she asked who I was, and after I told her, she used something to knock me out. She kept saying that I had to stay until my leg was healed, and then later on, she said they were protecting me from the people who broke into that house."

"But you don't believe that, do you?"

"No. They kept moving me around without telling me first. And it was always when I was asleep, too."

"Is that how you ended up in East City?"

"Yeah. That's where I met Scar, too."

"Hey, brother?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Then go. You don't need to have my permission. Sheesh."

------------------

Al walked slowly down the hall to the bathroom. He knew that one of the guards was keeping an eye on him, so he didn't spend too long in there.

On his way back, he saw someone walking down the hall toward him. It was Major Armstrong. He walked straight up to Al and placed his hands on Al's tiny shoulders.

"It is good to see you, Alphonse Elric. You're rather small, though."

"Yeah, my body was in pretty bad shape when I got it back. I'm still taller than brother, though."

"Ho ho, he must not be too happy about that. So, did he regain his limbs as well?"

"Just his leg. He couldn't get his arm back for some reason."

"Well, at least it's something."

"Yeah, it is. Why are you here, Major?"

"I came to say hello. Your brother seems to be talking to someone at the moment, though."

"Really? That's weird. There wasn't anyone in there when I left…" Al walked back to the door, but the guards wouldn't let him in.

"He's talking to someone right now, you'll have to wait."

"Who's he talking to?"

"Another State Alchemist."

Al leaned against the wall as he waited. Who was in there with his brother? If it was the Colonel, why did he want to keep Al out? It was puzzling, but Al wouldn't get to know the answer for a long time, because at that moment, Bradley came walking up.

"Hello, Alphonse. I'd like to talk to you for a moment."

"Um, okay." Al followed Bradley out to a car, which brought them to the Fuhrer's office.

Ed sat on his bed as he waited for Al to come back. He had left for the bathroom several minutes ago, and he hadn't come back yet. Ed began to wonder what had happened to him.

After another couple of minutes, Ed decided to check on his brother. It wasn't like his brother to spend ten minutes in the bathroom, unless he was sick…

He was about to open the door when it opened from the other side and hit Ed in the face. Ed stumbled back, holding his nose. He looked at whomever it was who opened the door, resisting the urge to do the same to them. It was Kimblee.

Ed was grateful that he had resisted that urge. He had the feeling it wouldn't be good to mess with this person. After he was sure his nose wasn't bleeding, Ed lowered his hands.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I have some questions for you."

"Like what?"

"Sit down."

Ed complied, and Kimblee handed him a picture. Ed looked at it. It was Doctor Marcoh.

"Have you seen this man?"

"What, like recently?"

"Yes."

"No, I haven't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I haven't seen anyone who looks like this. Who is he?"

"He's a state alchemist who deserted a few years ago. We found him recently, but he disappeared again. There's a good chance he's with Scar."

"Scar?"

"Yes. That brings me to my other question. Have you seen Scar at all since the last time you fought him?"

Ed thought frantically for a moment and decided to give an edited version of the truth. "Yeah, I saw him in East City, but he didn't go after me for some reason."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

Ed shrugged. Kimblee took back the picture and began to walk to the door. "East City, huh? I guess I'll have to go back there."

Ed watched as Kimblee left. Was he chasing after Marcoh? Why had he come to Ed to ask questions? Ed groaned. He had just put Marcoh in danger by saying what he did.

Ed stood up and went to the door. He wanted to check on his brother. As he opened the door, the guards blocked his way.

"If you're wondering about your brother, he's at the Fuhrer's office. He'll be back soon, so be patient."

-------------------

Al sat quietly in a chair facing Bradley. He had no idea what was going to happen, so he was rather nervous. Had they done something wrong?

"So, you and your brother no longer have the need to travel around, do you?"

"No, I guess not."

"Well, because of that, there's the question of what to do with the two of you. I don't particularly feel like limiting your freedom, but we do have to keep an eye on you."

Al was quiet. Where was this leading? Were they going to be stuck in Central now?

"You want to leave the military, right?"

Al didn't know what to say. He wanted to say yes, but he didn't want to put Winry in danger.

"It's all right, you can be honest."

"Yes, we do."

"What would you do instead?"

"I don't know."

"I see. Well, here's an option for you. I'm willing to let the two of you continue traveling as long as you come back to Central once a month. If you don't come back, we will send someone after you. I don't think I need to say what will happen if you fight against that person."

"No."

"So, is that okay with you?" Al hesitated. He didn't want to make a decision without talking to his brother first. Bradley seemed to realize this. "Talk it over with your brother first, and give your answer tomorrow."

"What if he says no?"

"You'll have to stay here, then."

"Okay. I'll ask him."

"Good." Bradley stood up and led Al to the door. "You two look a lot alike, by the way. Did you dye your hair, though?"

"Yeah, it's actually a lot lighter than this."

"It doesn't look too bad. Good day."

He shut the door, and a nearby soldier brought Al back to his room.


	5. Chapter 5

Ed didn't think too much about the deal. He figured it was better than staying in Central, so the next day their answer was yes. After that they were free to do as they pleased. The first thing Ed did was stop by the Colonel's office. He wanted to give his thanks.

Roy wasn't there when Ed went there. When he asked someone, she said that today was Roy's day off. Ed thanked her and walked out of the building with his brother.

"So, what now? I don't really want to stay in Central for too long."

"We could stop by his apartment."

"You know where he lives?"

"Of course I do. I did live there for two weeks, you know."

"Oh, right. Okay, let's go."

Ed and Al walked quietly down the streets. Ed was limping slightly, so Al decided to make him rest for a while, using food as an excuse. They stopped at a small restaurant Ed had eaten at several times before. The owner recognized him and stopped to chat for a while.

"How have you been?"

"Not too bad."

"Where's the armor you're usually with?"

Ed gestured at Al, who waved with a hint of embarrassment.

"No way, you're the one with the armor?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't think you'd be so small. How did you manage to move that thing around?"

"That's a secret," Al said with an evil grin.

"Oh, come on, you can tell me."

"Nope. No can do."

"I don't believe you."

"Don't you recognize my voice?"

"Well, yeah, but… Okay, okay, I'll let you keep your little secret. Say, what happened to your leg?" Ed had shifted his leg and pulled up his pant leg to check on it.

"Oh, I had a little accident a while ago."

"You're calling that little?"

"Yes I am. Hey, where's our food?"

"It's coming. Can't you be a little more patient?"

Once they had eaten and paid, Ed and Al chatted with the owner for a while. Then, Ed saw something unnerving. There, browsing a flower shop on the other side of the street, was Tessa. She wasn't looking at Ed, but he didn't want to stick around to let her see him. Ed stood up, and trying to be as polite as he could, said a rushed goodbye to the man and ran off, pulling his brother with him. He didn't stop until they were a good distance away.

"Brother, what was that for?" Al asked once they had stopped.

"Did you see that woman looking at the flowers across the street?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"That's the one."

"The one who kidnapped you?"

"Yeah."

"What's she doing here?"

"Probably trying to find me."

"What should we do?"

"Let's go visit the Colonel like we planned. Maybe he'll have an idea."

-----------------

When they arrived at Roy's door, Ed had Al knock. He stood a good distance behind his brother as the door opened. Ed gaped as he saw the unshaven, half-awake Colonel. When Roy saw who it was, he slammed the door, shouting, "I'll be out in a minute!"

Ed burst out laughing as they waited.

"What are you laughing at, brother?" Al asked.

"Did you see what he was wearing?" Ed replied between gasps for breath.

"So he likes to wear pajamas with pink ducks on them, what's the big deal?"

"I wish I had a camera, that was perfect blackmail material right there."

"Jeez, brother, you're hopeless. Remember those nice pink flowery pajama pants you used to wear?"

"Hey, I only wore those because mom liked them!"

"You liked them too, though!"

"So did you! You stole them from me, remember?"

"No I didn't! That was Winry!"

"No way, that was so you!"

When Roy opened the door again, the two had begun a fight. Roy watched with some amusement as Al emerged the victor, sitting on his brother's back.

"What did I just miss?"

"Um, nothing," Ed muttered as Al got off of him.

Roy smirked at Ed as he let the two boys in. To Ed's surprise, it was fairly clean inside.

"So, what brings you here?"

Ed took a moment to say what he had come to say. "Well, um, thank you, for taking care of Al."

"You're thanking me, Fullmetal?"

Ed's face was very red at this point. "Yeah, is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not at all. I'm glad to see you're alive. I heard you didn't get your arm back, though."

"No, I didn't."

It was quiet for a moment, and then Al spoke up. "Um, Colonel, on the way here, we saw someone, it was the person who had taken brother. We think she's looking for him."

"And you don't know what to do?"

"No, we don't."

"What does this person look like?"

Ed tried to describe Tessa as best as he could. Roy listened quietly to Ed's description. Once Ed had finished, Roy took a moment to think.

"Where are you going now?"

Ed and Al looked at each other. "I think we're going to go to Dublith. That's where our teacher is."

"Well, just try not to attract attention, and stay on your guard. I'll file a report on this woman, and we'll try to catch her."

"Thank you." Ed wasn't nearly as red this time.

"How's your leg doing?"

"It's almost completely healed. At least I can walk on it now."

"Maybe you'll grow some too."

"Hey." Ed didn't much feel like attacking Roy for once. Instead, he stood up. Al followed his lead, and Roy walked them to the door.

"Stop by again some time. We'll have a milk speed drinking contest."

Ed ignored this poke at his dislikes and waved as he and his brother walked away.

---------------

Tessa walked down the streets of Central. She'd heard that the Elric brothers had been brought to Central, and that they had been deemed not guilty, so she had more of a chance of catching the Fullmetal Alchemist now than she would in a few days. So far, however, nothing had turned up. Nobody seemed to have seen either of the two.

She went to the train station with the hopes that someone would have seen the suit of armor that was the alchemist's younger brother. No luck there. Few people had seen that armor, and the ones who had hadn't seen it for quite some time. Another dead end.

Then the thought occurred to her: what if the younger brother didn't wear armor anymore? She thought of the boy she had met in East City. His hair was black, but he'd looked a lot like Edward, albeit taller and skinnier. What if that had been him? After all, he _had _been found in the east, and he was from Resembool…

Even though she had no other evidence for it, Tessa was convinced that she had seen Alphonse in East City. She changed her tactics, and began asking people about him. One person confirmed her suspicions when he mentioned that he'd seen a boy like that traveling with a blonde boy with a braid and a right arm of automail. They had gotten on a train heading south.

Tessa smiled to herself. She'd heard that the Elric brothers knew people in Dublith. She decided to take a trip to the south.

-----------------

Ed and Al walked nervously down the street toward a certain butcher shop. Once there, Ed paused before entering. He wasn't sure how people would react. Al had dyed his hair back to its natural color, so they would recognize him immediately.

Finally, Al opened the door and pulled Ed inside. Behind the counter was Mason, who looked fairly frazzled. There were a lot of people inside. He took a moment to wave to Ed and Al and shouted to someone in the back. Then he told the two to wait outside.

After a moment, Izumi came out. She paused as she saw Al, who took a step back out of fear. Then she looked at Ed. There was an awkward silence for a moment or two. Finally, Ed got up the nerve to speak.

"Um, hi, teacher…"

WHACK! Ed found himself lying face up on the ground. Seconds later, Al was sprawled over him.

"Couldn't you have called before coming? This is a really busy time for us!"

"S-sorry, we didn't know…"

Izumi held out a hand to Al. "Look at you. You did it," she said as she pulled him up. Ed had to stand up on his own. His teacher paused as she noticed the automail arm.

"What about you? Why is your arm still like that?"

"Eh, something went wrong, and I didn't get it back."

"What about your leg?"

"I got most of it back, and it's pretty much healed now."

"That's good. What went wrong?"

"Someone interrupted us. I still don't really know what happened."

"That's too bad. So, what are you doing now?"

"Not much, they're making me stay in the military, though."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"But they're letting you travel around still?"

"Yeah, but we're going to have to go back to Central at the end of the month."

"So did you just come to bother me, or what?"

"Yep."

Izumi smiled as she smacked Ed on the back. "Well, why don't you stay for dinner? Al looks like he could use some food."

-----------------

That night after dinner, Al sat outside for a while. The night air felt good. To Ed, it wasn't that exciting, but Al loved it. Not being able to experience this for five years made him appreciate it a lot more.

Ed stood in the doorway behind his brother. After a while, he yawned. "Hey, Al, I'm going to bed. Are you going to stay out here for a while?"

"No, I'm tired too."

Izumi had been nice enough to let them spend the night there instead of making them find a hotel. Most of the hotels were booked anyway, she said.

Al had troubles falling asleep, although that was probably because he was in a sleeping bag on the floor with only a blanket as cushioning. He lay staring at the ceiling, listening to his brother's breathing. It made him remember those long nights he had spent without sleeping.

After a while, he sat up. He wanted to steal the bed from his brother. As he stood up, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Someone had been right outside the window, looking inside. Al shook his brother awake and they looked through the window. There was nobody there.

"Hey, Al, are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"No, I didn't imagine it," Al said, sitting on the bed.

"Well, whoever it was, they're gone now, so I'm going back to sleep." Seeming to think that Al had always been on the bed, Ed collapsed on the sleeping bag. Al smirked. He had succeeded. Now Ed couldn't complain about Al stealing the bed. He had left it on his own.

Al didn't think too much about the person at the window. It was probably just some kid, anyway. Nevertheless, he closed the shades and locked the window.

---------dash------

Later that night, Ed woke up to something going thunk, and a quiet curse. He sat up and looked around. Someone was standing next to the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, Al, go back to sleep," Ed heard. He lay back down, but something was wrong. Why was Al's voice so high? And why had he called him Al? After a moment, he figured it out. Someone was kidnapping his brother, probably thinking that he was Ed. Ed stood up as fast as he could. Sure enough, the person wasn't his brother. It was Tessa.

Ed tried to move, but she was too fast. Within seconds, Ed was on the floor with his mouth covered and his arms pinned.

Then Ed saw someone else moving in the room. He couldn't see who it was, but he definitely wasn't on Ed's side. As soon as Tessa let go of Ed's mouth, the man had stuck a piece of cloth into it. Then they bound him tightly.

"Are we really going to take this one too?"

"Well, we don't have a choice now, do we?"

"Hang on, isn't this the kid we came for?"

"Yeah, it is. What was he doing on the floor?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's just take them both anyway. It'll be easier that way."

Ed struggled as the man picked him up and handed him over to Tessa, who had gotten to the other side of the window. She set him down and went back inside. Ed tried to bring his hands together, but they were too far apart. Then he tried to squirm out of the ropes, but he had no luck with that either. Finally, the thought occurred to him to make noise, so he started banging his head against the wall. That only succeeded in making a small thud and giving Ed a massive headache, so he stopped.

After a moment, they came out with Al. Tessa picked Ed up again and carried him down a dark street to an alley behind a hotel. Then the man left his brother and went inside. A little while later, a window opened right above them, and Ed found himself being handed over to the man, who placed him on one of the two beds. His brother was set down next to him.

Tessa sat down on the bed next to Ed's head. She placed her hand on Ed's forehead and smiled.

"I'm glad I found you. You need to get out of this place."

Ed tried to ask why, but all he could manage was a muffled growl. Tessa looked down at him. "I can't let you speak right now. You might wake someone up. But I promise, once we arrive at where we're headed, I'll untie you, okay?"

Ed couldn't believe this. She was acting like being kidnapped was a normal occurrence in his life. He tried to get out of the ropes again, but she put her hand firmly on his chest and prevented any more movement. "Stop struggling. We're doing this for your sake."

"Just knock him out, it'll be easier," the man said.

Tessa looked over at him and nodded. "Right." Ed watched as she picked something up off the nightstand and brought it toward Ed's face. It was a cloth, and as she placed it over his nose, Ed realized it was chloroform. Then everything was black.


	6. Chapter 6

When Al woke up, everything was dark, and he could feel movement, as if he were on a train. There was something in his mouth. He tried to move, but he was firmly bound, and something was pinning him against the wall. It took him a second to realize it was his brother, who was also bound and gagged. Al tried to push him off, but his efforts only caused Ed to fall even more on his brother.

Eventually Al gave up. He waited for someone to come to them. Tessa must have kidnapped them, but why had she taken both of them? Wasn't she just after Ed? Al was confused. After a while, he realized that his eyes had adjusted to the minimal light in the room. He looked at his brother. Ed's eyes were closed, and he was breathing normally. Al figured he was asleep.

After a while, Ed woke up. Al saw him open his eyes, and waited for Ed to notice him. Finally, Ed looked into his brother's face, and tried to get off of his brother. He didn't succeed, though. After a while, Ed just looked apologetically at Al.

"Mmmph."

Al found it really amusing that his brother was trying to talk. He shook with silent laughter. Ed realized his brother was laughing and glared.

They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, the train stopped moving. Al heard footsteps, and light flooded the room. He immediately squinted, turning his head away from the door. Once his eyes adjusted, Al looked back up. There was a woman standing above them. She looked down at the two with a friendly smile.

"It looks like you woke up sooner than we expected," she said as she leaned over them and picked Ed up. It was only then that Al noticed the man standing behind her. He walked up to Al and picked him up. Al tried to get away, but of course he wasn't able to. Once he realized he didn't have a chance of escaping, Al devoted his energy to observing his surroundings, which was hard to do since his head was at such an awkward angle.

Soon they came to a car. Al was wondering why nobody was paying attention to them, but then he realized that the only people around seemed to be allied with Tessa and the guy carrying him.

The man set Al down as he opened the car door. Then he gently placed Al on the seat and removed the gag. Before Al could say anything, though, the man closed the door. Al looked around and saw his brother next to him.

"Brother…"

"Hey."

"What happened?"

"They came in the middle of the night for me. They would have just taken you if I hadn't woken up. For some reason I woke up on the floor."

"Oh, yeah. Heh."

"Did you do that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Al…"

"Anyway, where are we?" Al asked, changing the subject.

"You're asking me?"

"Weren't you awake when they came?"

"Yeah, but they didn't tell me anything. Do you think they're stupid?"

"Well, no, but you've been with them before, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't know where I was until I escaped."

"So, how are we going to get away?"

"I don't know. She said she'd untie us when we got to wherever we were going."

"But where is that?"

Just then, the front door opened, and Tessa got in the passenger's seat. The man got in on the driver's side and started the car.

"Where are you taking us?" Ed asked.

"Not too far, just to the other side of town. From there we're going by carriage to a small village in the mountains."

"Why are we here, though?" Al asked. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

"I told this to your brother, but your lives are in danger. The ones who robbed that house…"

"Yeah, yeah, they're after us, but why are we safer with you than with the military?"

"Would the military have given you any freedom while protecting you?"

"We were walking around freely when you kidnapped us, weren't we?"

"But you weren't being protected. It was painfully easy to find you and take you here. How well do you think you'd do against those two?"

Ed didn't say anything. Tessa was right, but he still wasn't buying her story. "At least with the military we know where we are. And we know what we're dealing with. Right now all I know about whoever it is that's after us is that they looked like us when they broke into that house."

"I can't tell you any more than that because I don't know anything else."

"Then how did you find them when they came into the room where we were trying to get our bodies back?" Ed was practically shouting at this point.

"Brother, calm down. Shouting won't do any good," Al muttered. "I'm sure if she knew anything else, she'd tell us."

Ed looked at his brother. "Al…"

"And think about it, brother. Would you rather be stuck in that room again? Where they don't let you out except to go to the bathroom?"

"Well, no, but…"

"Just stop, brother. I'm fine with this, why aren't you?"

"Uh, maybe because right now we're tied up like prisoners? How about that?"

"Now, Ed, I told you that I'd untie you once we got to where we're headed. If I untie you sooner, the two following us wouldn't believe that we're holding you prisoner."

"See, brother? I knew there'd be a reason."

Ed gave up. He knew there wasn't anyone following them, but he also knew he was fighting a losing battle. Al had been completely hypnotized by Tessa.

-----------------

After a while, they switched over to a carriage, like Tessa had said they would. Ed looked out through the back of the covered carriage at the town they were leaving. It was more of a city, but that didn't matter to Ed. He was concentrating on where they were. That way they could get back more easily.

Tessa seemed to realize what Ed was up to, because she pulled the cloth flaps closed after a moment. "You should get some rest. It's going to be a while before we get there."

Ed wanted to protest, but Tessa gently covered his mouth. "Shh, your brother's already asleep."

Ed looked over at Al, and sure enough, Al was sound asleep. He looked very peaceful. Ed decided to let him be. Tessa smiled as she removed her hand. "I know you aren't tired right now, but try to get some sleep, okay? It'll make the trip go faster."

Who was she, his mom? Why was she acting like Ed and Al were little kids who couldn't take care of themselves? Ed didn't think too much about it. Instead, he rolled over, his back to Tessa, and closed his eyes.

When he woke up, Tessa had set him down on a chair at a table. Then she closed the door leading outside and began to untie him.

"Where's Al?" Ed asked.

"He's still sleeping. I put him into your room. Sorry, but you're going to have to share a bed. It's a big bed, though, so it should be fine."

"Where are we?"

"Ed…"

"I want to know, okay?"

"Look, I have instructions not to tell you anything, so stop asking. I'm going to send you into your room in a minute, too, after you eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Well, you're not going to get another chance to eat until late this evening, so if you want to starve…"

"Fine." More and more, Ed felt like Tessa was treating him like a five-year-old. He was just glad she didn't give him any milk.

Tessa practically read his thoughts. "I know how much you hate milk, and you should be happy to know that there isn't a refrigeration system up here, so you won't have to worry about having to drink it."

Once Ed had finished eating, Tessa walked him upstairs and sent him into a small, windowless room. Ed looked around. He could easily use alchemy to get out of here, but he'd need Al's cooperation. Ed didn't want to leave without his brother.

Ed lay down on the bed next to Al. It took him a moment to notice Al watching him.

"Hey, brother."

"Hi, Al."

"We finally arrived, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Look, I'm sorry I took her side. I wanted her to think I was convinced by her story."

"You weren't, though, were you?"

"Something about her face told me she was lying. Besides, what about that bloody thing from that night?"

"There are a lot of questions that don't have answers, huh?"

"Yeah. It's kind of fun, actually. Like solving a puzzle."

"But this puzzle involves our lives."

"Shh, be quiet."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just… pretend you're sleeping, okay?"

Ed listened to his brother and closed his eyes just as the door opened. Ed heard two sets of footsteps coming toward them. One stopped by their feet, but the other continued around the bed and stopped next to Ed's head. Ed felt a hand on his forehead.

"So, what do we do with them now?"

"Well, I need to make them both believe we're protecting them from the robbers. Once they believe that, they'll follow us anywhere."

"But why do we need them to follow us? Can't we just kill them and dump them somewhere?"

"You don't have any sense at all, do you? This is the Fullmetal Alchemist. If he disappears, the military won't be happy. Besides, he'll be useful soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we need replacements for those two failures, don't we?"

"But how do we know the kid will do what you tell him to?"

"Easy. Now that we have both of them, we can just hold one hostage and make the other one do the work. Maybe they can help at the end, too…"

Ed had to sneeze. He tried to hold it in, but he couldn't, so he just hoped that they wouldn't realize he was awake. He was pretty convincing, too, he thought, but…

-------------------

Roy was working at his desk when someone came into the office. They handed him a piece of paper and walked out quickly. Roy looked at the paper. What he saw on there shocked him.

He arrived at the Fuhrer's office moments later. Riza let him in, and he sat in a chair across from Bradley.

"So the Elric brothers are missing?"

"Yes. They were kidnapped from their teacher's house the night before last. A few people witnessed a woman, matching the description of the one who had the Fullmetal Alchemist up until recently, walking down the street where the house was located several times that night."

Roy was quiet. He was angry at himself for not being stricter with the brothers.

"I want you to find them and bring in the woman responsible for this for questioning. Ms. Hawkeye will accompany you."

This startled Roy. Riza was being used as a hostage, so if they were letting go of someone so important to keeping Roy in check, it meant they really wanted Ed and Al back. Either that or they were up against someone very dangerous.

After a moment, Roy stood up to leave, but Bradley gestured for him to sit down again. "Do you know the details of that robbery?"

"No, sir, just that the Elric brothers were suspects for a while."

"You're going to need to know more than that to understand what you're going up against." Roy listened to Bradley's account of events leading up to the robbery, and became immensely worried as he realized just how important it was to get the brothers out of Tessa's hands, both for the military and for the people of Amestris, and also for the sake of the Elric brothers.


	7. Chapter 7

Tessa immediately made a lunge for Ed. Ed managed to avoid her grasp, but then he felt strong hands on his arms. Ed tried to pull away. He could see his brother trying to avoid being captured. Ed tried to figure out why his brother wasn't running. Then he realized. Al was looking for a way to get his brother freed.

"AL! RUN!" Ed shouted. "Get out of here! I'll catch up later!"

Al hesitated for a moment, which Tessa used to grab onto his arm. Ed finally broke free from the man's grip and kicked at Tessa. She let go of Al, and the two brothers made their way to the stairs. Ed made it halfway down before tripping.

"Brother!" Al screamed. Ed tried to stand up, but someone had grabbed his right leg. Ed tried to kick at the person, flailing desperately. Then he realized something that made him want to bang his head on the wall. He could use alchemy.

Still trying to pull his leg out of the man's grip, Ed brought his hands together and placed them on the ground. A wooden hand seemed to grow out of the wall next to the man, flattening him against the other wall. He let go of Ed's leg then, and Ed made his way down the stairs with his brother. Tessa was still after them.

They made it to the front door. Al used alchemy on the lock, and they ran outside. The village was practically deserted. They ran for the road, but Ed stopped. He looked at the carriage.

"Hey, Al…"

"What, you want to steal the horse?"

"No, we'll just borrow it and let it go once we're far away from here."

"But brother…"

"You heard those people, didn't you? The only thing keeping us alive is my identity as the Fullmetal Alchemist! Come on, let's go!"

Al used alchemy to free the horse from the carriage, and the two climbed on as quickly as they could. Behind them, Tessa had made it outside. Ed urged the horse to go forward, and they went full speed down the road, heading away from the village.

-------------------

Once they had gotten halfway to town, Ed stopped the horse. He and Al got off and let the horse wander. Right away it went into the fields next to the road.

Ed began walking toward town. Al followed, constantly looking back up the road.

"Al, calm down, you're wasting time checking for her every five seconds."

"Sorry, brother, but I'm nervous."

"Me too, but we have to make it into town. From there we can figure out where we are and make our way back to Central."

They arrived in town an hour later. Ed resisted the urge to ask someone for directions to the train station, knowing full well that some of the people would not be on their side. Instead, the two walked down the streets, trying to use their senses and fuzzy memories of the town to find the station.

Once there, Ed saw a couple of people in military uniforms at the other end of the station. He exchanged glances with Al before approaching the two. Ed was startled to see that it was Roy and Riza.

-------------------

Upon seeing the two alchemists, Roy decided to buy train tickets to Central right away. He waited until they were all in a private compartment on a moving train before listening to Ed's story. Then he had a story of his own to tell.

"Do you know what she meant by failures, Fullmetal?"

"No. I have no idea."

"That night, when you were getting your bodies back, there was a robbery in Central that ended in murder."

"Yeah, yeah, we know about that."

"Brother, be quiet."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, the items stolen are similar to things that have been stolen from houses all over Central, and even in other parts of the country."

"So they're collecting something. What does that have to do with us?"

"That night, the two thieves made their way through Central and stopped to drop off the items in a certain room of a deserted building. They had no way of knowing they'd find two alchemists inside. I think you know the story from there, don't you?"

Ed frowned as he tried to remember everything about that night. "Yeah, they came in, they paused when they saw me, but then someone else came in, and then…"

"The two were killed, right?"

"Yeah, they were. Right in front of me."

"That's why we thought you were dead. We had no way of telling just what that bloody mass was."

Ed was beginning to feel sick. He ignored it, though. He really wanted to know what was going on.

"But why were they killed?"

"We don't really know the reason, but every time there was a robbery like this where someone saw the thief, there have been similar incidents where unidentified… bodies… have been found. Whoever's in charge of all this must be killing off those thieves in order to protect the secrecy of their mission."

"Their mission?"

"As far as we know, the items stolen are all necessary for some sort of transmutation. All of the people who were killed have been killed with alchemy. Nobody's been able to identify them, either."

"A transmutation? What are they trying to make?"

"That's the problem. We still don't know if that's what they're actually planning."

Ed frowned. He had a very good feeling that Tessa had been the alchemist responsible for all the murders. He just wanted to know why. She didn't seem like the murdering type. Ed realized that she could have easily been deceiving them, but he still didn't like to think of her as a murderer. A freak kidnapper, maybe, but not a cold-blooded killer.

It was quiet in the room for a while. Everyone was trying to think. After a while, Ed began to drift off. He was unusually tired.

-------------------

Ed woke up on a couch in what looked like a military office. He tried to sit up, but his muscles refused to respond. Roy was standing in front of a desk, talking to someone. He came over to Ed when he saw he was awake.

"Where are we?" Ed asked. Something was wrong. His voice sounded strange to him.

"We're at Eastern Headquarters. Just so you know, you were probably drugged."

"Where's Al?"

"He's with Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Ed tried to sit up again. This time he succeeded. He looked around the office. Sitting behind the desk was an old guy that Ed vaguely recognized. He shook his head. Something was definitely wrong with him. He should know who that person was.

Roy held his hand out to Ed and pulled the young alchemist to his feet. Ed followed Roy out of the office, going much slower than usual. Ed was amazed he could move at all.

Out in the hall, Roy turned to face Ed. "Listen, we came up with a plan to find those people."

Ed recognized the look on Roy's face. "Does it involve me being the bait?"

"Yes, it does."

"Great. As long as you don't make me dress like a girl again."

"No, not this time. This time you need to be yourself."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I'll tell you when the drugs wear off."

Ed glared at Roy. It wasn't his fault he had been drugged. He walked down the hall with the Colonel, stopping just before the stairs. He felt sick again.

"What's wrong, Fullmetal?"

"Bathroom…"

"Oh, jeez, you're not going to puke, are you?" Roy helped Ed get to the nearest bathroom and waited outside. Ed made it just in time.

Roy came in after a while to find Ed washing his face.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Somewhat."

"You should go to bed. I'm not letting you do anything until you get over this."

Ed didn't argue. He quietly followed Roy to a small bedroom and collapsed on one of the beds, not even bothering to take off his shoes.

-------------------

Roy stayed with Ed for most of the night. He was concerned about Ed, not only because he had thrown up a few more times, but because there had been sightings of Tessa and that man in East City. Roy didn't want Ed to be kidnapped again, and there was no way Ed would be able to protect himself in this state.

Al had been taking care of his brother until about nine that night. Roy looked over at Al, who was sleeping on the other bed. Both of them were exhausted, but Al didn't seem to have been drugged. Why had it only been Ed?

Ed moaned softly in his sleep and rolled onto his side. Roy went over to check on him again. Ed had a fever now, which made Roy more worried. He had requested medical attention for Ed, but the doctor wouldn't come until the morning. Poor Ed was going to have to suffer until then.

At around three in the morning, Riza came in to give Roy a break. Roy gratefully left the room and fell asleep in the room he was temporarily staying in. He didn't wake up until nine that morning. By that time, the doctor was walking down the hall to Ed's room. Roy got dressed in a hurry and went to greet him.

Ed was half awake when they went into the room. His eyes were blank. He looked at Roy for a moment, and then shifted his gaze to the doctor. Roy watched as Ed's eyes widened and became fearful.

"What's wrong, Fullmetal?"

"Why is he here?" Ed asked, pointing at the doctor.

"He's here to help you. Didn't we tell you?"

"But why does it have to be him?"

"What are you talking about? Why does it matter?"

"I've seen him before! He worked for her!"

"What?" Roy looked at the doctor, whose expression was becoming more worrisome. "You mean he's part of that side?"

"Yeah, he is!"

At this point in time the doctor had bolted. Roy caught up with him at the entrance to the building. He had to full-out tackle the man. Once the man was in custody, Roy sighed. It looked like Ed would have to wait for help.

-------------------

Ed had used up a lot of energy when the doctor had come in, and he fell back on the bed exhausted once Roy had gone after him. Al stood up and went to his brother's side, but Riza held him back and brought him into the hallway.

"Let him sleep. He's scared."

"But…"

"Listen. If that person really did work for Tessa, then Edward's probably thinking he'll be taken back to her."

"But he won't."

"No, but he's not really thinking clearly right now. He might do something he doesn't mean to do."

Al narrowed his eyes. He was trying to think. "What now, then?"

"We'll just have to wait for a different doctor."

-------------------

Interrogating the doctor yielded no significant results. All they learned from him was that he had been hired by Tessa to take care of Ed. After he said that, he mentioned that Tessa was unwilling to bring Ed out in public, which confirmed what they already knew. Obviously they hadn't told him anything else, because not even Roy's threats and fire yielded any further information.

They found another doctor for Ed, who was still sick. By the time the doctor came into the room, Ed was slightly delirious. Riza had been trying to talk to him, but he kept insisting that she make Shuichi leave the room. Riza had no idea who the heck Shuichi was, but there was nobody in the room other than her and Ed.

The doctor checked Ed's symptoms and did other doctor-ish stuff. Finally he gave Ed some medication and left, giving Riza some pills for Ed to take the next morning. Ed waved and called out, "Bye, Shuichi!" Riza groaned. This was going to be an interesting recovery process.

The next day, Riza had to force Ed down to take the pills. It was definitely a difficult task, one that she only managed with the help of Al and Roy. Al was worried about his brother, but Roy found the entire situation rather amusing. Riza just shook her head at the entire mess.

The day after that, Riza had a much less difficult time with Ed, mostly because she brought her gun out and shot just above his head. Ed was doing considerably better, but he was still very delirious. Sometime after lunch, Riza had to tackle Ed to prevent him from jumping out the window to attack his imaginary foe by the name of Shuichi. Ed began begging Riza to let go, saying, "He's taunting me with his pink Philosopher's Stone hair!"

Riza let go more of surprise than anything else. Then, when Ed made it to the window, he looked outside, turned around, and sat down on the bed, considerably embarrassed. Riza sighed. At least Ed realized he was imagining things.

The next day, Ed wasn't delirious anymore. Or at least, he could easily ignore Shuichi. Once everyone was sure he could function as a normal human being, Roy began explaining his plan to Ed.

-----------------

Ed was actually impressed by Roy's plan. It made sense, and Ed wouldn't even be in much danger. Or at least, that's what he thought. He had no way of knowing that Roy hadn't told him everything.

That night, the four of them headed for the train station. Ed stopped when they left military headquarters. Everyone else stopped too, looking curiously at Ed. Ed held up a finger, and pointing to Roy, shouted, "What's he doing here?"

Roy looked a tad irritated as he responded, "Don't you remember the plan, Fullmetal? I'm supposed to follow you."

"Not you, him!" Ed said, pointing to someone behind Roy. Everyone looked where Ed was pointing. There was nobody there. "Why is Shuichi coming?"

Al shook his head and pushed his brother's arm down. "There's nobody there, brother."

"Oh, crap. Sorry." Ed was turning red. They continued walking, with Ed shooting death glares at his imaginary enemy.

Finally, they arrived at the train station. Roy and Riza boarded the train after saying goodbye to Ed and Al. The two brothers walked away from the station, hoping that Tessa had seen the two on the train.

She did see it. She also saw the Elric brothers walking alone down the street from the station. Sadly for the brothers, they had made their plan a little bit too obvious, because Tessa didn't show herself at all.

Instead, Ed and Al found themselves facing two big men, who didn't give the brothers any time to transmute. Realizing that the plan had been ruined, Ed and Al decided to change tactics. They split up and headed for the train station.

Neither of the brothers made it to the station. Al took a wrong turn and found himself at a dead end, and Ed got unexpectedly sick as he ran, and had to stop. The one after Al managed to pin him against a wall, and as Al struggled, Tessa casually walked up to him. Having nothing to tie him with, Tessa instead took out a circle from her pocket and placed it on Al's shirt. When she placed her hand on it, Al's shirt changed shape, effectively preventing any movement on his part. Then she stuck a chloroformed rag in Al's face.

"You're not going to escape again. Neither is your brother," she said threateningly as Al lost consciousness.

Back on Ed's end of things, things weren't going well at all. Ed had stopped in an alley because of stomach troubles. Once he had gotten to the point where he could continue running, it was too late. The other big man had placed his hands on Ed's arms and pulled him upright. Ed tried to get away, but he was still fairly weak. The man pushed him roughly against a wall.

Ed wasn't really sure what happened next. All of a sudden, he wasn't being pushed against the wall anymore. He stumbled back, and tripped over something – the man's leg. He felt someone catch him. It took Ed a moment to realize that the man was dead.

"That was a close call, Fullmetal Alchemist."

Ed looked behind him. Immediately he broke away from the person. It was Scar.

"What are you doing here?" Ed asked.

"None of your business."

"Then why did you help me?"

"Didn't I say this before? I have no interest in killing you now."

"So? That doesn't mean you had to help me."

"I want you to help me with something."

"And what's that?"

Scar looked from the body on the ground to Ed, who was breathing heavily. "We shouldn't stay here. Come with me."

Ed looked down at the dead man. Their plan had gone to hell, so Ed was going to have to go into hiding for a while to avoid capture. He hoped that Al had made it to the station.


	8. Chapter 8

Al woke up lying on a seat in a train compartment. He was right next to Tessa. There was a blanket over him, but Al was still unable to move. He could talk, though, until Tessa put her hand over his mouth.

"Hey, he's awake. Give me something to keep him quiet."

Because his head was facing the seat cushion, Al couldn't see who she was talking to, but he guessed it was the man from before. After a moment, Tessa stuffed something into his mouth and loosely tied a cloth over his face, blocking his vision.

"Shouldn't we have done what we did last time?"

"No, that's not possible. We have to make it look like we're taking care of a sleepy teenager."

"So then how will we get him out? I mean, he's bound to struggle when we make him walk."

"Oh, I don't think he'll do that."

"And why's that?"

"Because of his brother."

Al panicked. What had they done to Ed? Al tried to get up, but he only succeeded in falling to the floor of the room. Tessa laughed, stood up, and pulled Al into a sitting position. Then she pushed the cloth down so that Al could see.

"Nice try. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

Al glared, and kicked Tessa in the leg. That pissed her off. She punched Al in the side of the head and roughly dumped him back on the seat.

"I guess you're not going to listen to me anymore now that you know our plans for you. Hey, give me the chloroform. I'm knocking him out again."

Al watched with unease as Tessa approached him with a chloroform soaked rag. He tried to turn his head away, but she pulled on his hair and forced him to look straight at her.

"You're going to sleep. Now. And if you know what's good for you, you won't kick me again. Got it?"

Just then, there were footsteps outside. Tessa quickly pulled down the cloth covering Al's face, waved the rag in front of his nose, and laid him down on the seat, covering him with the blanket just as the door opened.

-------------------

Roy glanced at Al before turning his attention to the occupants of the train compartment. There was a woman, most likely Tessa, from how Ed had described her, and a man, who matched the description Ed had given of the one from earlier. Roy pulled a gloved hand from his pocket and held it out for both of them to see. He could feel the train slowing down as it pulled into a station.

"What are you doing with that boy?" he asked.

Tessa smirked. Obviously she wasn't going to try lying to Roy. "It's none of your business."

"Oh, really? Even though I'm in charge of his wellbeing?"

Tessa looked at the man, who stepped forward, drawing a gun. Roy smiled. This is exactly what he'd wanted them to do.

"You should be careful. Right outside in the hallway are several armed soldiers who are waiting for my order to shoot. There are also soldiers at the station, so going through the window would do you no good either."

"So you want us to surrender? Why would we do that?"

Roy was a tad surprised by this reaction, but he didn't show any emotion. Tessa, hidden from sight by the man, made her way over to Al and pulled out a transmutation circle.

"Now, if I use this circle, this boy will be killed. He's rather important to the military, isn't he?"

"You're going to kill someone you put a lot of effort into kidnapping?"

"We do have his brother, after all. Besides, isn't his brother more powerful?"

"How do you know that?"

"Because, why else would only one of them be a State Alchemist?"

Roy was worried. Tessa seemed very serious about killing Al.

"What do you want?" Roy asked.

Tessa walked toward Roy, turning her back on Al. "Just let us go, and don't follow us. Not much to ask, right?"

Roy took a moment to think. "What will you do with Alphonse?"

"We'll leave him here. What do you say?"

Roy hesitated. He had to think. Just then, he noticed something. Al wasn't asleep. He was awake, and if Roy gave him a chance, he could get himself away from Tessa. He took a step back, still not speaking.

"Well?"

"Give me a minute. I need to think."

"Fine."

Roy stared at the two, hoping that he could buy Al enough time to get away. Finally, when Al had broken free and moved to the window, Roy spoke again.

"I've made a decision," he said as Al silently opened the window.

"Oh, really?" Tessa asked. Al was halfway through.

"Yes, I have." Al was outside. "My answer is no."

"Is that so?" Tessa asked as she stepped back. She checked over her shoulder to see Al, but he wasn't there.

"Yes, that's how it is." There were gunmen at the window, all aiming for Tessa and the other man. "Now it's time for you to surrender."

The man dropped his gun. Tessa, on the other hand, lunged at Roy. Roy snapped his fingers as she came close. Immediately the transmutation circle she carried, along with her clothes, caught on fire. She dropped to the ground, screaming. The flames went away in an instant, leaving her on the floor in a pathetic state. Roy had succeeded.

-------------------

Ed sat in an alley across from Scar. He was beginning to feel very sick again. He even saw Shuichi dancing in a banana suit next to him, but he ignored that for the most part. There were a couple of occasions where he couldn't help laughing, which probably was why Scar hadn't said anything to him yet.

After a while, Ed decided to admit that he was hallucinating. When Scar realized that the Fullmetal Alchemist was spending his time watching some imaginary person dancing in a banana suit, there was a long, awkward silence. Ed was still trying to get rid of Shuichi, but it was hard.

Eventually, Scar walked up to Ed. Shuichi screamed and ran away, which solved the problem of Ed's hallucinations.

"Are you back to normal yet?" Scar asked, sounding rather impatient.

"What? Yeah, Shuichi ran off." Immediately, Ed wanted to start banging his head on the wall for saying that. It made him sound like a complete idiot.

"Good."

"So what do you want?"

"You've probably heard of the Crimson Alchemist, right?"

"What, that psycho? What about him?"

"Do you know anything about where he is now?"

"Well, last I heard, he was going to East City, so he should be somewhere around here, shouldn't he?"

"That's what I've heard."

"Why do you want to know about him?"

"He's the one who wiped out my family."

Ed was quiet for a moment. "So you want to kill him?"

"Yes. You're probably against it, but…"

"No, I'm not against it. I haven't heard anything good about him. He doesn't have the best personality either."

"You met him?"

"Yeah, I was stuck in a train compartment with him when they took me back to Central."

"Speaking of which, did you find your brother?"

"Yeah, I did. He has his normal body, too. The one he was born with."

"So he's not in that armor anymore?"

"No, but he's skinny as hell."

"Why's that?"

"Because his body was being starved."

They were quiet for a moment.

"So will you help me find Kimblee?"

Ed thought about it for a moment. "He's looking for Doctor Marcoh. If I let it slip that Marcoh's in this area, he'll probably come in this direction, right?"

"But why would he believe you?"

"I wouldn't outright say it, he'd find out by accident. This is only if I run into him, though. I'll probably see him, but if I don't…"

"I understand." Scar pulled Ed to his feet and they walked through the city toward Eastern Headquarters. "By the way, who was that guy?"

"He was supposed to bring me back somewhere I didn't want to be. Have you heard about the bodies they've been finding around the country? The ones that there's no hope of ever identifying?"

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I witnessed one of those murders, and they want me under their control. They'd kill me, but apparently I could be useful to them."

"That's what you get for being a State Alchemist."

"You don't have to remind me. I still have to find a way to get out of there without endangering Win…" Ed decided to shut up as he said that. He didn't want that subject to come up.

"They're threatening someone you know?"

"Pretty much."

They were quiet for a while. Scar was lost in thought, and Ed was watching Shuichi be a dork again. Finally, they came to a more crowded street, and Scar left Ed to walk to HQ by himself. Ed walked through the crowds to the gates. One of the soldiers out front recognized him and walked up to him.

"It's good you're here, we were afraid you had been captured again."

"No, not this time."

"You should report to Colonel Mustang right away."

"Where is he?"

"Hang on, I'll have someone take you up there."

As Ed waited for the soldier to find someone who wasn't too busy, he saw Kimblee walking toward him. Ed was somewhat happy. Now he wouldn't have to waste time looking for him.

Kimblee stopped right in front of Ed and looked down at him. Ed shifted uncomfortably as Kimblee stared at him.

"Um, do you want something?"

"I heard you got yourself in trouble again."

"Heh, yeah, that happens a lot."

"Seen Scar lately?"

Ed started at this question. This was his chance. "Well…"

"Did you?"

"Yeah, he was in the slums over that way."

"And he didn't go after you?"

"No, he didn't see me."

"Thanks for telling me. I was about to leave East City, but I think I'll stay for a while. Oh, and if you're lying, I won't be too happy."

"Why would I lie?"

"To protect Marcoh, maybe?"

"Well, Scar was alone when I saw him, so…"

"That doesn't mean anything. See you around."

Ed watched as Kimblee walked off. "I hope not," he muttered as someone walked up to him.

"Mr. Elric?"

"Yes?"

"Please come with me, Colonel Mustang wants to talk to you."

Ed followed the soldier to a small room in the main building. She opened the door and gestured for Ed to go inside.

-------------------

Roy took a moment to realize that Ed was in the room. He'd been rather preoccupied with a bunch of paperwork involving the case with Tessa. Finally, he looked up at Ed.

"We all thought you had been caught again."

"No, I had some help from someone."

"Who?"

"Dunno, they ran off after they helped me," Ed lied with absolutely no effort.

"Why would they do that?"

"Beats me. So did you catch her?"

"Yes. We were very lucky. The problem is, the higher-ups want you to return to Central immediately."

"Why?"

"Because you're an important witness in the case. Plus there's still a chance that someone could come after you."

"Makes sense. Where's Al?"

"He's nearby, getting medical treatment."

"What happened to him?"

"Nothing serious, he just has a few bruises, and one of the soldiers thought he was one of the enemy and gave him a concussion. He'll be fine, though."

"Why did they think that?"

"Because he was crawling out through a train window."

"Uh…"

"Basically, he was being used as a hostage, because Tessa thought that you had been captured, so she was willing to kill him. Luckily Al was awake, and he managed to sneak away from them. Through the window."

"How did she miss that?"

"I was distracting her. But you don't look too good, Fullmetal. Are you still sick?"

"Yeah, I started hallucinating again, too."

"Maybe you're just going insane?"

"Ha ha ha, Colonel."

"How's your leg doing?"

"It's fine. Looks a little weird, but it's healed."

"That's good. So, the two of you are going to Central tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. It's the only way you won't have to be on the same train as Tessa."

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No. You should go to where your brother is. I'll go with you."

-------------------

Al looked up when he saw the Colonel walking toward him. He was incredibly relieved to see his brother trailing behind him, looking with a strange face at what Al could only hope was another hallucination. Either that, or Ed was developing a deep love for brick walls.

Ed sat down on a chair next to his brother as Roy talked to a medical person. Al heard the words 'going crazy,' and hoped that Roy was talking about Ed's hallucinations. Finally, someone came up to Ed and began to do medical-type stuff.

Once they had determined that Ed was still very sick, Al walked with his brother to the room they were staying in. Al didn't want to go back to Central, but they didn't have much of a choice. He sat on his bed while Ed pulled off his shoes.

"Hey, Al?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"What is it, brother?"

Ed sat on the edge of his bed for a moment. "Well…"

"Come on, you can say it."

Ed fell back on the bed. "I met Scar again."

"You did?"

"Yeah, and he saved me from the guy who was chasing me."

"Why did he do that?"

"You know that one guy, Kimblee?"

"Yeah, I know who that is."

"Scar wanted me to help him find Kimblee."

"Why?"

"He said that Kimblee was responsible for killing the Ishbalans in his region."

"So he wanted you to help him find someone he wanted to kill?"

"Yeah."

"What did you say?"

"I agreed."

"Brother!"

"Al, listen. Kimblee's been looking for Scar, too. He actually asked me today if I'd seen Scar."

"So you told him where Scar was?"

"Well, yeah. That guy's creepy."

Al sighed. "Well, I guess you can't do anything about it now. Besides, it sounds like it would have led to them meeting eventually. Don't worry about it, brother." Al looked over at Ed, waiting for a reply, but Ed was asleep. Al went over and gently pulled a blanket over his brother. He waited for a minute before sitting back down on his bed. It was getting dark outside.


	9. Chapter 9

In the middle of the night, Ed woke up drenched in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily. That dream he'd had… Ed was glad he was awake now.

Once he calmed down a bit, Ed looked around. It was dark in the room. Al was asleep, Ed was sure of that. It took him a moment to realize that there was someone else in the room.

Whoever it was stood by the door, quietly watching Ed. After a minute, she walked up to him. "Do you need something?"

"No, nothing, but why…?"

"Colonel Mustang decided that it would be best for you two to be under constant surveillance, since you're still in danger."

"It isn't enough that we're in military custody?"

"It's just an extra precaution."

"Yeah, but why'd he make the decision in the middle of the night?"

"I actually came when your brother was still awake, but he does have a reason for making the decision so abruptly."

"What's that?"

"He'll tell you tomorrow on the way to Central. Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ed fell back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He could hear the woman walking back to the door as he drifted off to sleep.

-------------------

The next morning, Al woke up first. He looked around, trying to figure out how much time they had before they had to leave, and saw that he and his brother were alone. That was a tad worrisome, because Roy had said they weren't going to be left alone in the room. Al got dressed and slowly opened the door.

The hallway was deserted. That made Al worry even more. Where had everybody gone? Why had they been left alone? Al went back into the room, being sure to close the door tightly. He walked over to the window and looked outside.

Below him was a startling sight. There in the courtyard, surrounded by what Al guessed to be just about every soldier in East City, was Tessa. There were countless guns pointed at her, but she didn't hold her hands up. Al looked closely at her. She had taken someone hostage. As far as Al could see, it was just a regular soldier, but then what was that behind her?

Al gasped as he realized what he was looking at. Tessa had killed someone; in the same way she had killed those two people in front of Ed that night.

Al woke up his brother and was about to bring him to the window when the door opened behind them. Roy walked up to the brothers as calmly as he could, but Al could tell he was shaken up.

"Come on, we need to get you two out of here."

"Huh? Now?"

"Yes, right now. Get your shoes on, Fullmetal."

Al looked at his brother. Ed was still half asleep, and he obviously didn't know what was going on outside. Once Ed had pulled on his shoes, Al grabbed his coat and pulled his brother out of the room.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ed asked, looking from Roy to his brother.

"I'll tell you soon, but right now we need to get to the train station. We're running late."

Al knew that was a lie, because he had seen what was going on outside. He knew that Ed would try to go out there, though, so he was grateful for that particular lie. They walked down through the building and out a back door, where Riza was waiting in a car. Al noticed that she looked as worried as Roy was.

-------------------

Once at the train station, Ed looked at the empty tracks in confusion. "Did we miss it?"

"No, it's not here yet."

"Then why did you say we were running late?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you."

"Huh?"

At that moment, a soldier came up to Roy.

"What happened?" Roy asked.

"She got away, sir. She also took one of the new recruits with her."

"What?"

"And she left this. It's addressed to you."

Ed watched as the soldier handed Roy an envelope and walked off. Roy looked at envelope for a moment before opening it. As he read it, his eyes narrowed, and he began to look very pissed.

"Fullmetal."

"What?"

"There's been a change in plans. You're going to Central on your own."

"What are you doing?"

"Shut up."

"Huh?"

"Don't ask me that again, got it?"

Ed looked curiously at Roy. Something had pissed him off big-time. He decided not to push the issue.

Once Roy had left, Ed and Al boarded the train with Riza. By the time it finally left the station, Ed had fallen asleep.

-------------------

The train ride was surprisingly uneventful. Ed slept through most of the trip, only waking up when they got close to Central. Once there, the three were given orders to report to the Fuhrer. It took Ed a while to realize this meant he and Al might be put under strict surveillance again.

Bradley had no intentions of making the Elric brothers stay in Central, however. He had something else for them to do. After a few days, during which Ed was forced to stay in a hospital room in order to completely recover, Ed and Al headed out on another mission. This time, they didn't need anyone to force them to do it. Both of them were ready to take down the organization that had put them through so much.

Thanks to a lot of spying on Envy's part, the organization's main base had been found. Ed and Al were going there to surrender themselves, but also to prevent Tessa from killing more people in the military. They made their way to a village in the mountains. Ed recognized it as the one they had been taken to less than two weeks before.

As soon as they walked into the village, Ed and Al were surrounded. A few of the people had transmutation circles tattooed on their bodies. One of them was the man Ed and Al had met before. He took a look at the two and gave an order to someone next to him before walking off. Ed watched as he entered a small house.

Four people walked up to the brothers and began to check for weapons. Once they were deemed clean, someone led the two into the house where the man had gone. The brothers were seated and left alone in what looked like an office, and waited for what felt like hours before someone came in. It was Tessa.

"So, you've finally given up," she said as she sat down. "But I wonder, are you really here to surrender, or are you just coming to try and stop us?"

Ed kept his eyes on Tessa. "We came because we're sick of all the pain. If I had just stayed in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"True, true. If you hadn't so stubborn, everything would have worked out well. I would even have brought your brother, so that you could be together."

"That's a lie. The only reason you would have ever brought my brother into this is because he's an alchemist like me."

"Now, now, why do you think that?"

"You threatened to kill him. Colonel Mustang told me so."

"And you trust him?"

"More than I trust you."

"So then, why did you come here?"

"You were killing people. I wanted to stop that. You killed those people in that room that night, too, didn't you?"

Tessa lowered her eyes. "Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"They showed their faces. If I had left them alive, they would have been brought back here and tortured to the point of death. Nobody escapes us. I tried when I was younger, but it didn't work."

"Is that why you killed them? So that they wouldn't turn out like you?"

"No, my case is different. No outsiders knew about me. Now that most of the military knows about me, though, I'll probably be killed."

"Are you trying to make us feel bad for you?" Ed asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm just trying to make you see why I had to kill them."

"But why did you do it like that? Those bodies… you couldn't even tell if they had been human!"

"I know, I know, but I had to do it. If they could be identified, their families would have recognized them, and we would have been found out."

"The military knows about you anyway!"

"Because of you! You're the one who revealed our existence to the military!"

"They wouldn't have found you if you hadn't followed me! If you had just left me alone I wouldn't have said anything!"

"I know. It wasn't my idea to bring you back here. I didn't even want to keep you in the first place."

"Then why did you?!" Ed practically shouted, standing up and slamming his fist on the desk.

"Because, I didn't have a choice! Once they found out you were the Fullmetal Alchemist, the people above me decided to keep you with us."

"But aren't you the one who told them?"

"Yes, and I regret that decision now. I don't expect you to forgive me for that, but I'm sorry."

Ed calmed down a bit, or at least he lowered his voice. He was still standing, though. "What… what were you planning on doing when you found me?"

"I was going to bring you to our other base. We have someone there who can make you forget anything. I was going to have him make you forget that night, and then leave you at a hospital."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because, they wouldn't let me, not when they found out who you were."

All of a sudden, Ed's legs gave out, and he sat on the floor. He was trembling noticeably.

"Brother!" Al cried, kneeling beside Ed.

"I feel sick. Really, really…" Ed didn't finish that sentence. He was clutching his stomach.

Tessa stood up and walked around the desk. She was about to put her hand on Ed's back when he shouted, "Don't touch me!" She drew her hand back and stood over him.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked Al.

"Since a day or two after we got away from here last time."

"Did he see anything strange?"

"You mean like hallucinating? Yeah, he's been seeing this pink-haired kid named Shuichi or something…"

"We're going to have to bring him to the other base. If this continues, he could die."

Luckily Ed didn't hear that, because he had collapsed against his brother, trapped in an unnatural state of unconsciousness.

-------------------

Roy had wandered through East City, trying to find Scar. He didn't want this meeting to happen, but he didn't have a choice. He had to do something to save Ed's life, and Ed had said that Doctor Marcoh was traveling with Scar…

He found Scar in a deserted building. He was breathing hard, and Roy could tell he was injured. He stood up when he saw Roy in the doorway.

"Did you come here to kill me?" he asked.

"No. I came to ask for your help."

"Why would you need my help?"

Roy did his best to keep his voice steady. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is dying."

Scar was definitely surprised at this. "Dying?"

"Yes, he's been poisoned."

"What do you expect me to do?"

"I've heard you've been traveling with Doctor Marcoh. He might be able to help."

"I see." Scar began to walk through the door. "I'll tell him. You shouldn't come, though. He might think you're going to bring him back to the military."

"I understand."

"Come back here tomorrow."

-------------------

Al sat in the back seat of a car, his brother's head on his leg. Tessa was driving the car, and the man from before was in the front passenger seat. He looked back at the two constantly.

"Are you sure they won't try to escape?" he asked Tessa.

"The other base is the only place that can save Edward's life, and I doubt Alphonse will want to leave his brother behind. Right, Alphonse?"

"Right." Al didn't really care about what they were saying. He just wanted his brother to show some sign of life. The only way Al could tell Ed was alive was from his breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car stopped. "Are we here now?" Al asked.

"No, not yet. We have to go a few miles by carriage."

Al looked uncertainly at his brother. Tessa smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll make it in time. Hurry, though. If we take too long, it'll take even longer for him to recover."

After a long carriage ride, they finally came to another small village on the other side of the valley. Al walked alongside Tessa as the man carried Ed to a house eerily similar to the one he had been in only hours before.

"I called ahead to notify them that we were coming. This shouldn't take too long."

Al sat outside with Tessa for several hours, waiting for someone to tell him how his brother was doing. He was so desperate to hear news that he tried to go inside several times. Each time Tessa pulled him away.

"You won't be helping by going in there. Calm down," she told him the last time he tried it.

"I know, but…"

"I can see why you're so worried. You two have the strongest bond I've ever seen between siblings. But everything's going to be okay. Ed is going to be fine."

"How do you know? You said yourself it would take a long time for him to recover."

"Look, they did this to me, too. They used this poison on me, and my best friend, who was with me that entire time, said I went through everything that Ed's going through now. Even Shuichi. But with me, they waited longer to counter it, so I had to wait a long time to get back to normal."

Al stared at the door. "What if something goes wrong, though? If Ed were to die…"

"You wouldn't be able to live with yourself, right? Don't worry. We brought him here at a good time. You're a good brother."

Al felt his eyes begin to water. He blinked, trying to get rid of the tears. Over and over, he muttered to himself, "He'll be okay, he'll be okay," trying to convince himself that it was true.

Finally, somebody came out and walked up to Tessa.

"And?" Tessa asked.

"We were successful. He'll wake up tomorrow morning."

Al collapsed on the ground out of sheer joy and relief. He stayed there for a moment, not quite trusting his legs anymore. Eventually, Tessa pulled him to his feet and brought him to another house. Once inside, she had him sit down on a couch.

"Wait here for a minute, okay? I'll get you some food."

Al looked around the room. It looked normal enough, except for the fact that there were no windows, and there was some rope in a corner. Al hoped he wouldn't be tied up again.

Finally, Tessa came back with a book and a plate of food. She sat next to Al and read as he ate. Once Al was finished, Tessa stood up.

"You realize I'm going to have to keep you two under much tighter security now, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean one of you will always be guarded. You're not going to have any freedom from now on."

"Why do we always have to be guarded, though? We gave ourselves up, didn't we?"

"Don't lie to yourself. You know you're going to try to get away the first chance you get. They don't want to waste any effort trying to catch you. Now come on. You look exhausted."

-------------------

Roy walked slowly back to where he was going to meet Scar and Marcoh. The moment he'd returned to headquarters the previous day, they'd told him that Ed and Al had gone to the enemy. Now it would be pointless to bring Marcoh to Central. But how was he going to say it? If he weren't careful, Scar would think that Roy had set up a trap. He probably already thought that, but now he'd have to be twice as careful.

Scar was waiting for him at the building. When he saw Roy, he walked towards him slowly. Roy really wished that Riza were with him, but there was no chance of that.

"So you did come alone."

"Yes, but something came up."

"What's that?"

Roy sighed. "Edward and his brother are now in the enemy's hands. There'll be help for him there."

"So you don't need Marcoh after all."

"No."

"And they're just going to be stuck there?"

"When they were sent there, it's doubtful that anyone knew that Fullmetal had been poisoned. There's not much of a chance of them getting away now."

Scar leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. "I'll get them out of there."

"Hah?" Roy definitely hadn't expected this coming.

"That girl… I took away her family, something I can never give back. The only thing I can do for her now is to help her childhood friends."

"That girl… you mean Winry Rockbell?"

"Where are they? I'll definitely get them back."

Roy blinked. Scar was serious. After a moment, something in his brain began working again, and he was able to give Scar directions to the base up in the mountains, except for one thing. He gave Scar directions to the wrong one, which in this case, is actually the right one, so everything works out.


	10. Chapter 10

Ed woke up to the sound of a radio broadcast. He tried to sit up to see where it was coming from, but someone pushed him down again.

"Don't push yourself. You're still recovering."

Ed tried to see who was talking, but all he could see was white. Finally, a head came into view. It was Tessa. She gently placed her hand on his forehead. Ed wanted to push it off, but he lacked the energy.

"Your fever's gone down, at least. Maybe tonight I can let your brother come in here."

Ed wanted to say something, but all he could manage was a tired groan. It was just about the same as what he wanted to say, though, so he was fine with it. After a moment, Ed remembered questions he wanted to ask, but before he could get any of them out, he was asleep.

He woke up late in the evening, this time functioning much better. When Tessa saw that he was awake, she let him sit up and gave him some water.

"You're recovering much faster than anyone thought you would. I'll let Al in now," she said, and opened the door. Almost immediately, Al came running in.

"Brother!" he cried, jumping onto the bed and nearly crushing Ed in a hug. Ed pried away from his brother after a moment. He didn't think that Al would be that strong.

"Hey, Al," Ed said. "What's with all the excitement?"

"Brother, you came close to dying. I was afraid you wouldn't make it."

"Really? Was it that bad?" Ed asked with some surprise.

Tessa stood at the foot of the bed. "It was. If you had arrived much later, it would have been much harder to keep you alive, much less let you wake up the next day with everything intact." She paused for a moment, and then continued to speak. "Tomorrow the two of you are going to see a friend of mine. Then, after that, you'll be part of this place for good."

"Who's this friend you're talking about?" Ed asked.

"He's the one I was going to bring you to in order to make you forget about that night."

-------------------

It took a long time for Scar to get to the town in the valley. He had intended on going alone, but Mei Chan had pleaded to go with him. When he asked her why, she had turned red and muttered something about Alphonse. The only reason he had agreed is that he remembered her healing abilities. If he was going to have to fight against a lot of people, he might as well bring her along.

He walked through the town cautiously, keeping an eye out for any sign of the brothers, just in case they had ended up in the town. When there was no sign of them, he continued up the road to the small village.

Once he got close, Scar moved off of the road into the trees. He circled around the town, trying to figure out where the brothers would be. Finally, he saw Ed walk out of a building with another boy about his age. All around them were a few people armed with guns. Scar watched as they crossed through the town.

He made sure to pay attention to where they were going. Then he dropped back into the forest to come up with a plan.

Ed sat next to his brother on a rug facing an old man. The man looked friendly enough, but Ed still didn't trust him. Of course, Ed didn't trust anybody in the area, which is understandable.

It was quiet in the room. Ed exchanged glances with his brother, but neither one spoke. Finally, the man stood up.

"So, the two of you would probably like to know why you're here, right?"

"Obviously," Ed muttered.

"Tessa wants to give you a chance. She says it would be unfair for you to be put under such a strict guard."

"And?"

"You have two choices. You can either give up your memories, except for the fact that you're brothers, and live freely in this place, or you can keep your memories and live with minimal freedom."

"Those are the only choices we have?"

"Yes."

"So we have to either give up our memories or our freedom?" Ed asked.

"That's how it is. I'm sorry."

"There's no way I'll ever give up my past!" Ed nearly shouted.

"I see. How about you, Alphonse?"

Al paused. He looked at his brother. "There are so many things I want to forget. But, at the same time, I don't want to forget all the friends we've made. I also don't want to forget that we've made mistakes." Al turned back to the man. "I agree with my brother. Who we are is more important to me than where we can go."

The old man smiled. "I understand. Nobody expected you to agree. We just wanted you to know that you have a choice."

"Thank you, but I don't think we'll ever change our minds."

They walked out of the room. Right away, Ed saw a gun pointed at his head. He wasn't very surprised. They had been doing this since early that morning. They walked back to the house that Ed and Al would be living in. Once inside, Ed heard the door slam shut behind him. Someone pushed him forward into the living room. Ed looked back to see his brother being held back. He wanted to ask what was going on, but someone had covered his mouth.

Ed was bound and gagged and shoved roughly to the floor. He watched as Tessa spoke to the men in the room. They left a minute later. Tessa stood above Ed for a while, not speaking. Finally…

"I've been thinking about that transmutation circle I found that night. That's pretty advanced stuff."

Ed looked at her in confusion. What transmutation circle? The one they had used to get back their bodies? Ed looked at the floor. There was a transmutation circle drawn there. It looked different from the one he and Al had made, but its purpose was the same: human transmutation.

-------------------

Al was brought upstairs into a small room with no windows. The two people with him forced him to sit on a chair and stood on either side of him, guns in hand. After a moment, someone came in. A mask covered his face. He sat down in a nice chair across from Al.

"So, you're one of the two boys messing up my plans. I wasn't expecting you to look so pathetic. Why are you so skinny?"

Al was quiet. He didn't know how to respond to this. If he mentioned human transmutation, he and Ed could be forced into doing it again. Al didn't want to go through that.

"Well?"

"It's because my body was being starved for five years."

"Starved?"

"Yes. It didn't get much in the way of nutrition."

"But weren't you traveling with your brother in the past four years? How were you starving?"

"It's complicated. Basically, my body was taken away and my soul was stuck in that armor for five years."

"I see." The man stood up and walked right up to Al. He leaned over, and Al could see his eyes behind the mask. They were insanely creepy. "So, now I'm debating what to do. Obviously the military is aware of our location now, and we all know who's responsible for that. Not many people are happy about the fact that we're going to have to move." He stood upright again, and circled around Al. "In fact, someone's planning on killing you two. I've been trying to convince her not to, but…"

Al clenched his fists as he realized whom the man was talking about.

"Oh, didn't she bring your brother into a room by himself with no guards? And wasn't he tied up, too? This will present a problem, won't it?"

Al tried to stand up, but he was forced back down again. "Don't try to save him. It's probably too late anyway."

"So you're just going to let her kill him?"

"I'm having someone stop her at the last minute. Your brother needs to realize just how far we're willing to go to keep you in line."

Even though he knew how much trouble it would get him into, once the man wasn't looking at him, Al clapped his hands together and placed them on the floor. At that exact moment, there was another sound. Al looked at the doorway. There, standing where the door had been only seconds ago, was Scar.

-------------------

Ed tried to break out of the ropes holding him, but he had forgotten just how hopeless that idea was. Tessa noticed him struggling and knelt beside him. She pinned him down with her knee as she pulled off the gag and began to untie him.

"What are you doing?" Ed asked as soon as he could speak.

"Your arm is still at the doors, right?"

"Wha… how did you know about the doors?"

"I've been there before. These people sent me there so that I could get better at alchemy."

"What about the passage fee?"

"They had a stolen Philosopher's Stone."

"But then why are you always using circles?"

"Have you actually seen me use alchemy yet? Those circles are just for show."

"But Al saw you use one."

"Like I said, that was just for show. I didn't want him to know what I've seen." Tessa finished untying Ed and held onto his right arm, still keeping his other arm pinned against the ground. "I'm taking this off, okay?"

"What are you doing?" Ed asked again.

"You'll know soon enough." She pulled Ed's automail arm out and set it on the floor. Then she proceeded to tie his other arm back against his body. Just then, Ed heard a crash. He tried once again to stand up, but Tessa had her foot on his chest.

"Someone's here. Be quiet."

Ed looked toward the door, trying to see if someone would come into the room. Several minutes passed. Ed could hear shouts and more crashes. He became incredibly worried about his brother. A few more minutes passed, and the door opened.

In the doorway was a man wearing a mask, and he was about to lunge at Tessa when she clapped her hands together and placed them on the circle on the floor. Ed wasn't quite sure what happened next.


	11. Chapter 11

And now I'm officially done breaking it up into chapters. So go read Forsaken Memories. It's the sequel.

--------------

Outside of the little house, all hell had broken loose. All the residents of the town were running around in a panic, some trying to put out the fires Scar had started on some of the buildings, and some just not thinking clearly and getting in the way.

Al was trying to make his way to the house where he had seen the masked man run inside only moments before. Before he could reach the house, though, there was a sort of explosion from the inside. The entire second floor was blown away, and the rest collapsed on itself.

At this, everyone except for Al, Scar, and Mei Chan ran into the woods. Al's legs gave out as he looked at the pile of rubble in front of him. He could see a hand sticking out of the pile, but it was a right hand. It couldn't be Ed.

Scar walked through the scraps of wood and stone and began clearing it off of the person in the mess. Once he had cleared a decent amount of it off, he paused.

"Alphonse, come here," he said in a low voice. Al managed to stand up and walked over to Scar. He started at what he saw on the ground. There, facedown on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, was Ed, his arm reattached.

"Brother!" Al cried, moving to pull Ed out of the rubble.

"Wait. Leave him there."

"Why?"

"If you move him, it'll only make things worse," Al heard Mei Chan say from behind him. Al watched in a sort of daze as she used rentanjutsu on Ed's wounds. After a moment, Ed stirred.

He picked his head up off the ground and looked at the people in front of him. Then he saw his arm. Ed opened his mouth to speak, but before he got any words out, someone else spoke behind him.

"So you managed to finally destroy this place. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would."

Al looked back to see the old man standing there. He looked happy.

"Why are you here?" Al asked.

"Oh, this is where I had to make my home for many years. As for why I ended up here in the first place, it's the same for me as it is for you." The man looked around. "You should leave now. Some of the others are bound to return soon, and I doubt they'll be happy to see you."

Scar agreed with this and pulled Ed to his feet. They began walking down the road toward the town.

-------------------

Al walked next to his brother on the way back; a ways behind Scar and Mei Chan. Apparently Al had done something to hurt her feelings, because she hadn't said a word to him after realizing who he was.

"So how did you get your arm back, brother?"

"I don't know, I remember Tessa doing something with a transmutation circle, and some masked guy, but after that, the next thing I remember is looking up and seeing you right there."

"You're sure you don't remember anything else?"

"No, I…" Ed stopped walking. Al stopped too, and after a minute, Scar and Mei Chan stopped as well.

"What is it?"

"I just figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"A way to get out of the military for good, without having to run away."

"Huh?"

"Al, come on, we're going back."

"What? Why?"

"I'll explain it to you on the way. Just come on." Ed had turned around and was walking quickly back to the village. Al stood for a minute, not quite sure what to do, but then he followed his brother.

-------------------

After a while, Ed slowed down enough so that Al didn't have to put so much effort into keeping up with him.

"Brother? What's your plan?" Al asked.

"That guy. He can make you forget anything, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, what if he can make us forget just enough so that we don't need to be watched by the military?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, if we forget everything we learned at the doors, and also everything about the homunculi, and that Father guy."

Al paused. "That could work, but…"

"I know, it would mean forgetting about everyone we met, like Mustang and Hawkeye, and Hughes… but at least we would be free. And maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe we'd be able to remember everything later. Then we could work against the homunculi without them realizing that we know about them."

"But what if we can't remember it later?"

"Then it'll be like it was when we were kids."

"I don't know, brother."

"Look, it wouldn't be getting rid of our past entirely, just the parts after we messed up. Besides, I hate having to do everything with the knowledge that Winry might get hurt because of our actions."

Ed was quiet for a while, giving Al a chance to think it through. Ed hoped greatly that Al would agree, especially since it would mean not having Scar as their enemy ever again.

"Hey, brother? If he's good enough to only remove a few memories, he can probably undo it, right?"

"Maybe, but I don't know for sure."

"Well, if he can, then I'm okay with doing it. If he can't though… I don't want to lose everything we've learned since…"

"I know. Me neither."

The old man was sitting in the middle of the town with his eyes closed. He opened one eye as the brothers approached.

"You want to forget something, right?" he asked, and stood up.

"How did you…?"

"My specialty is getting rid of unwanted memories. I can also make sure you remember them, too."

"Really?"

"Yes. Here, let's go inside."

-------------------

Once inside, the man handed Ed a small medallion.

"Is there someone you trust enough to return this to you when the time comes?"

"What is it?" Ed asked.

"This will contain your memories, and once it is returned to you, you'll remember everything."

Ed sat quietly, trying to think of someone. "Well, maybe the Colonel, but we'd have to find a way to get it to him without making anyone suspicious."

"What about Lieutenant Havoc, brother? He could probably get it to the Colonel."

"Yeah, he could. Nobody would suspect him either because he can't really do anything against the military."

The man smiled. "All right. I'll deliver this to this Havoc person. Just tell me where to go."

"Really? You'll bring it to him?"

"Yes. I owe you two a lot. Why don't you write a note to go with it while I set things up? And actually, could one of you help me?"

Ed let Al handle the note while he helped the man move stuff around. Finally, he was ready. He had Ed lie down on the floor next to his brother.

"Close your eyes now, and relax. It's going to take a while. What day do you want to go back to?"

"The day we tried to bring back our mother." Ed gave the date, too, just in case that's what the man meant.

"All right. You're going to fall asleep, and when you wake up, you won't remember anything from that day forward."

Ed breathed deeply to calm himself down. This was it. He was going to get out of the military. All he had to do was relax.

-------------------

Ed slowly opened his eyes. The sun was shining in his face, so he closed them again. _Oh, jeez, it's bright out. How long have I been asleep? And why is the sun in my face? The curtains were closed last night… _Ed opened his eyes again, just enough to see where he was. _Wait, this isn't my room. This isn't even my house. It's not Winry's house either, or teacher's house, or the house of any of my friends. Where am I?_

Ed rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. The sun wasn't in his eyes anymore, but it was still bright. He heard a noise from his right side. Someone was there, a man with black hair and eyes, and a military uniform. He smiled at Ed.

"Oh, so you're finally awake, Fullmetal."

_Fullmetal? Why is this guy calling me that? And why am I talking to someone from the military?_ Ed sat up.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"I mean I have no idea who you are. And where am I? And… how the hell did my hair grow like a foot overnight?"

"What are you talking about, Edward?"

"And how do you know my name?" Ed was slightly panicked now.

"You're kidding, right?" the man asked.

"No, I'm not kidding. What the heck is going on?"

The man looked closely at Ed. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"I've known you for five years, Edward. I'm Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist."

"Wait, have you been spying on us?"

"What? No! Don't you remember? I came after you tried to bring back your mother…"

"How do you know about that?"

"Because, you tried to bring her back, failed miserably, and spent the next five years trying to find a way to regain the bodies you lost."

Ed stared blankly at Roy. "No way…"

Roy got somewhat irritated with Ed at that point. He grabbed Ed's arm and pulled him out of the bed and in front of a mirror.

"You're sixteen now, get it?"

Ed stared at the mirror. He definitely looked sixteen, but he was still having a hard time believing it. Five years had passed? And bringing back their mother hadn't worked?

"Where's Al, then?"

"He's in another room nearby. Apparently he doesn't remember anything either."

-------------------

Envy walked past where the Elric brothers were sitting with Mustang. They definitely didn't act like they remembered anything, but he decided to test it.

That evening, when the brothers were alone, Envy walked into the room disguised as Hughes. He waved at the two and came up to Ed.

"How's it going, Ed?"

"Um, sorry, do I know you?" Ed asked, his face a perfect picture of confusion.

"Uh, no, you don't. Never mind."

Envy walked out of the room before Ed could quite figure out what had happened. "Damn, those brats really don't remember anything."

"They're useless as human sacrifices too, now that they don't remember arriving at the doors," Envy heard someone say. He turned around to see Wrath standing there.

"So what should we do with them?" Envy asked.

"I'd say send them back to Resembool. They're not a threat to us anymore, and we can't just kill them without arousing suspicion. Besides, they might remember later on."

Envy shrugged. "Works for me."

The boys were sent home the next day.

-------------------

Roy woke up absurdly early on his day off. He slowly got dressed, and made some breakfast. As he finished, there was a knock at the door. He opened the door to see who it was. It was Riza.

"I'm glad you're awake. I wanted to tell you something."

"What's that?"

"Go visit lieuten- go visit Havoc. He wants to give you something."

"Huh?"

"He told me to tell you that. I have to go to work now."

Roy watched in confusion as Riza walked off. Then he decided to clean up and head to the hospital.

Once there, Roy saw that Havoc's door was open. Havoc looked over at Roy.

"Jeez, finally. How are things going?"

"Eh, not bad. You've heard about the Elric brothers, right?"

"Yeah, they lost their memory, right? Speaking of which, I have something for you."

"So I've heard."

"Is that the only reason you came? Some friend you are. Here." Havoc handed Roy an envelope. "Some old guy came in a while ago and handed this to me. He rambled for a while, too."

Roy took the envelope and opened it. Inside were a note and a medallion of some sort. He stuck the medallion in his pocket and looked at the note.

_Dear Colonel,_

_When you read this, my brother and I probably won't remember you. I'm sorry for that, but we had to do this. At least now we can move around freely without endangering Winry._

_There is a key to us remembering, though. Hopefully you'll get a medallion with this note. If you give it back to us, we'll be ourselves again. How we were when we last saw you._

_Sincerely,_

_Alphonse Elric_

Roy reread the note several times before handing it to Havoc.

"Man, I guess they're smarter than you are, huh?"

"Shut up," Roy snapped, yanking the note back. "I guess I'll be visiting Resembool the next time I have a vacation."


	12. kinda unrelated announcement thingy

So…

If anyone cares, I'm writing another story that kinda deals with Separated and Forsaken Memories, it's more for the organization from Separated, so yeah…

Dunno when it'll be up or anything, but it might explain a few things… might not… depends on what happens when I'm writing it…


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